Former Verus CEO Joins Pay By Touch

Payment Industry Veteran Ron Carter Named President of Pay By Touch Payment Solutions

Executive Brings Operational Expertise in Banking and Financial Services to Biometrics Pioneer

Pay By Touch, a leader of biometric authentication, personalized rewards and payment solutions, today announced that Ron Carter, credit card industry veteran and former President and Chief Operating Officer of Verus Financial Management has joined the company as President of Pay By Touch Payment Solutions, LLC.

Carter brings more than 35 years of experience in general management and operations for the banking and financial services industries to Pay By Touch. As President of Pay By Touch Payment Solutions, he will report directly to Pay By Touch's President and Chief Operating Officer, John Morris.

In his new role, Carter will be responsible for the day to day operations of the company's payment services divisions, which serve more than 138,000 retail clients and processes more than $18 Billion annually.

"Ron Carter is a proven leader and hands-on operator who brings deep financial services and payment processing expertise to Pay By Touch," said John Morris, President and COO, Pay By Touch. "We look forward to working with Ron to make electronic transactions both more secure for consumers and more cost effective for merchants, one touch at a time."

"I am thrilled to be joining such an innovative and dynamic company with a growing reputation for service in the merchant community," said Ron Carter, President of Pay By Touch Payment Solutions. "I look forward to working with John Rogers, John Morris and Pay By Touch's world-class management team to provide merchants everywhere with more secure and convenient transaction solutions."

At Verus Financial Management, a company that provides credit card and check payment processing services to small and mid-sized merchants, Carter managed the acquisition and successful integration of six companies and oversaw day-to-day operations as President and COO.

Previously, Carter served as Executive Vice President of Vital Processing Services, where he was responsible for all lines of business, customer relations, sales, operations and information technology. He had served as president of BUYPASS Corporation, a division of Electronic Payment Services, which was acquired by Concord in 1999.

About Pay By Touch

Pay By Touch is wowing the world one touch at a time as the leader in biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions. To date, the company's patented biometric services enable 3.3 million shoppers to quickly and securely access personal accounts using a finger scan to identify themselves, make purchases, earn rewards and cash checks at 2,400 locations nationwide. It also provides robust payment processing solutions for ACH (electronic checking), card-present and card-not- present debit and credit transactions for 138,000 retail clients and manages personalized rewards programs for 130 million opt-in consumer profiles. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Pay By Touch employs 700 professionals and holds 50 patents worldwide on secure, convenient and cost- effective transaction solutions.

Advantage: Pay By Touch

The TrueMe technology brings authentication services to individuals instead of limiting the process to a specific machine, said Goelz.

"This will have a huge advantage to e-commerce on the Internet," he added.

The same finger sensor used for online authentication can also be used to protect the data on the computer, the company said.

In addition, multiple users can share the same computer by registering their individual fingers on the TrueMe sensor without compromising security. With other security devices, sharing is nearly impossible, and local data protection is not addressed, UPEK maintained.

The innovative technology eliminates the risk factor for online merchants, Goelz pointed out. "It answers the question all online merchants ask, that is, 'How do I know the true identity of my customer?' For online merchants, it reduces risk and thus lowers the cost of doing business on the Internet."

The new on-demand service, which targets both individuals and businesses, will free Internet users from setting up separate passwords for different purposes.

"With TrueMe, a simple touch of the finger gives chief security officers the security they demand while giving users the simplicity they desire," said Jon Siegal, executive vice president of Pay By Touch. The new technology will put individual and corporate authentication on a higher security level, said UPEK.

"The same level of hardware-based security and convenience UPEK provides to millions of users for their personal and business computers can now be extended over the Internet by creating a trusted path between businesses and their customers," noted President and CEO Alan Kramer.

HyVee Joins Pay By Touch Bandwagon

One of the Nation's Largest, Most Innovative Supermarket Chains Rolls Out Biometric Payment Program Service to Improve Customers' Shopping Experience

"Hy-Vee prides itself on innovation and customer service. We are personally committed to providing great value and the best possible shopping experience," said Eric Smith, vice president, management information systems, Hy-Vee, Inc.

"Pay By Touch gives us the opportunity to help shoppers move quickly through the checkout line with the touch of their finger -- no need to remember PIN numbers, write checks or fumble for credit cards. We are very excited that the new program is underway and are looking forward to customer feedback."

"Pay By Touch is thrilled to join forces with Hy-Vee to give shoppers a more secure, private and convenient way to pay at the checkout line," said Pete Espinosa, vice president, Pay By Touch. "Hy-Vee has achieved regional and national recognition for its laser focus on superior customer service, making our efficient and easy-to-use payment solutions a perfect match."

About Hy-Vee, Inc.

Hy-Vee, Inc., headquartered in West Des Moines, is an employee-owned corporation operating 225 retail stores in seven Midwestern states. For 2005, the company recorded total sales of $4.9 billion, ranking it among the top 20 supermarket chains and the top 35 private companies in the U.S.

More On TrueMe and UPEK

"Biometrics, properly applied, would seem to be the answer to this troubling user security problem. As a result the TrueMe service enters a market in dire need of the capability it provides." -Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group.

TrueMe offers UPEK secure on-demand biometric authentication service over the Internet UPEK, Inc. has announced that its biometric solutions have now been extended to the Internet. This hardware and software offering is being utilized by the new TrueMe(tm) service, a secure on-demand biometric authentication service available over the Internet.

A San Francisco, Calif.-based integrated biometric authentication solutions provider, Pay By Touch Inc., has introduced TrueMe, a biometric authentication service delivered over the Internet.

The solution aims to solve the issue of password protection and management, not to mention credit card fraud and identity theft, in a world where RSA Security said password security and management is considered problematic at 88 percent of organizations it surveyed in recent months

Information about the user's finger is encrypted inside the finger sensor and combined with the unique device ID before it is sent to the TrueMe authentication servers. The user's information is never exposed to the computer operating system or the public Internet.

The TrueMe authentication servers then decrypt and process the information, authenticate the user, and ensure he or she is authorized to use the specified device. The user's authenticated identity is sent through a secure connection to the website or service that the customer is trying to access. If the person is identified as an authorized user, he or she is immediately granted access.

TrueMe could also enable businesses to provide customers, partners, and employees with secure, authenticated access to their computers, desktop applications and password-protected Web sites and services such as banking and Internet service providers (ISPs). The solution's protection also extends to enterprise applications like Salesforce.com's no-demand business services, officials said.

With the TrueMe service, the data on the computer can be protected with the same finger sensor used for online authentication. In addition, multiple users can share the same computer by registering their individual fingers on the TrueMe sensor without compromising security, the company said.

"TrueMe brings the security and protection of our industry-leading biometric services to the Internet for the first time, providing a new layer of privacy and convenience to PC users everywhere," said Jon Siegal, executive vice president, Pay By Touch. "A recent Visa survey says consumers are more concerned about the loss of personal and financial data than they are over terrorism.

"Clearly this is an issue of concern to consumers and businesses alike. Our solution provides greater security and benefits to both the user and businesses than other solutions out there, and it does so without expecting the user to jump hoops all to get perhaps minimally better security than what is presently offered."


To that end, Salesforce.com, PC maker Lenovo, (who bought IBM) and biometric security solutions provider UPEK are among the first providers supported by TrueMe. TrueMe has certified the integrated finger sensors on the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 and X60.

Pay By Touch also announced that it has teamed with UPEK to offer a TrueMe-branded and certified USB finger sensor for users that do not have sensors built-in to their PCs.

The company is also certifying millions of UPEK sensors that are already embedded in laptops and USB devices. TrueMe uses secure hardware to provide finger-to-server security, greatly reducing identity theft threats, such as phishing and Trojan horse attacks.

Our vision has always been for our authentication technology to evolve from securing the device to securing the network to securing the service," said Alan Kramer, CEO, UPEK.

"Our success protecting computers and networks has laid the foundation for protecting the Internet experience, and we are delighted to deepen our collaboration with Pay By Touch as they expand from innovating how transactions occur in stores to innovating how transactions occur online."

"We are working with UPEK to drive a fundamental paradigm shift in the way people prove and secure their identities online," stated Jon Siegal, Executive Vice President, Pay By Touch.

"The hardware-based security architecture under UPEK's sensors is ideal for our TrueMe service, and we are pleased to be working together to launch the industry's first on-demand biometric authentication service."

"We've known for decades that usernames and passwords are neither secure nor convenient enough to protect a user's identity or a company's assets", said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group.

"Biometrics, properly applied, would seem to be the answer to this troubling user security problem. As a result the TrueMe service enters a market in dire need of the capability it provides."

TrueMe Is A Precursor to Online PIN Debit

TrueMe ID Is a Precursor to Online Payments, Pay By Touch Says

Pay By Touch Inc., which on Monday introduced a new, personal-computer-based authentication service based on fingerprint identification, plans to couple the new service with online payments and loyalty programs some time in the first half of 2007.

The new product, called TrueMe, relies on the San Francisco company’s technology, along with fingerprint sensors from UPEK Inc., Emeryville, Calif., to authenticate consumers when they log into Web sites.

Pay By Touch says it expects TrueMe to help combat phishing, keylogging, and other frauds plaguing the Internet. “Home users are the most targeted attack sector [for fraudsters],” says Jon Siegal, executive vice president at Pay By Touch. “It’s a big problem.”

The first Web site to adopt the product is Salesforce.com, a provider of customer-management systems that has half a million users. Siegal says more sites are in the pipeline, including an application involving remote deposit capture, the process by which paper checks are truncated into electronic image files for processing.

At the same time, Pay By Touch has certified fingerprint sensors already built in to the X60 and the T60 laptops made by Lenovo Group Ltd. For users with machines that lack integrated sensors, Pay By Touch has arranged with UPEK to produce USB-enabled external devices.

TrueMe is the first of a series of online applications Pay By Touch, which specializes in authenticating point-of-sale payments for supermarkets and other stores, plans to introduce over the next 12 months, Siegal says.

He says an online version of Pay By Touch’s payments product will arrive during the first half of next year and will rely on TrueMe to authenticate users. In February, Pay By Touch announced a product for Web-based payments, called Pay By Touch Online, that included sign-in and multifactor authentication applications (Digital Transactions News, Feb 6). Siegal says TrueMe is essentially these two components of Pay By Touch Online.

“This is the first service made available under Pay By Touch Online,” he says. “This is the first chapter of the story.”

Siegal says the company originally intended to introduce the sign-in and authentication components in the spring, but found the technologies behind the product needed more work.

This included the technology behind the fingerprint sensors. “We weren’t able to deliver in the spring time,” he says, adding Pay By Touch wanted to make sure “the technologies and user experience were where they needed to be.” He says, though, that the company’s plan all along was to introduce serially the Pay By Touch Online components as stand-alone products.

“It’s safe to say we expect within 12 months to have millions of users of our Internet-based services,” including the yet-to-be-introduced payments and loyalty components, Siegal says.

Wow, that's a very powerful statement, but remember, Pay By Touch gets a big boost when Microsoft's Windows Vista, is released in early 2007.

Pay By Touch is an integral part of a "who's who in payments" consortium with Microsoft Vista financial services platform called "PASS" (Payments as a Secure Service) which will boost PBT enrollment on both the business and personal end. The PASS services are expected to be fully implemented by the time Vista launches early in 2007.

In addition to combating phishing and other online frauds, TrueMe will help banks meet stringent guidelines issued last year by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, Pay By Touch says.

By the end of 2006, financial institutions must have in place a workable plan to authenticate online-banking customers by means more robust than standard user-name/password combinations, according to the guideline.

“We absolutely believe TrueMe satisfies the FFIEC guidance,” Siegal says. “It presents a significant business opportunity for us.”

Pay By Touch, which recently reached the 3-million mark in consumers enrolled for its POS service, has installed its system in 2,400 stores. In addition, it processes card transactions for some 125,000 merchant locations and Web sites as a result of its acquisition last year of CardSystems Inc., a merchant-acquiring processor.

The plan is for the company to continue to sign on new merchants while forging a market presence in Canada and the U.K. in the coming weeks.

And one of its units, ATM Direct Inc., is marketing an online-payments service, unrelated to Pay By Touch Online (until later...) that lets consumers use their PIN debit cards to pay e-commerce sites.

That's when this unit will ring like a cash register for Pay By Touch and it's shareholders.

Coming Soon...Secure Web Transactions

Online biometric authentication service unveiled

by Liam Lehey - Canadian Bureau


A San Francisco, Calif.-based integrated biometric authentication solutions provider, Pay By Touch Inc., has introduced TrueMe, a biometric authentication service delivered over the Internet.

The solution aims to solve the issue of password protection and management, not to mention credit card fraud and identity theft, in a world where RSA Security said password security and management is considered problematic at 88 percent of organizations it surveyed in recent months.

The Pay By Touch online authentication service is powered by technology from biometric fingerprint security solutions provider UPEK, vis-à-vis the latter's secure fingerprint reader, embedded in notebooks or deployed as part of a Pay By Touch solution at participating retail outlets in the U.S.

Moreover, the two companies teamed up to produce a TrueMe-branded and certified USB finger sensor for users that do not have sensors built-in to their PCs.

"We're continuing to see an explosion of interest and adoption of our technology whether on notebooks or other PC peripherals," said Greg Goelz, vice president of marketing for UPEK. "Now we're seeing that proliferate into trusted services as a means of providing a securely linked, end-point system in a hosted application environment.

"This effectively eliminates the need for consumers to use a credit card, they can use their fingerprints at the point of sale."

TrueMe is designed to provide PC users with an easy and secure means to identify oneself, interact and transact on the Web, via the use of fingerprints. By sliding a finger on a TrueMe-certified finger sensor, users can securely access a Web-based bank account or credit card account, thereby eliminating the need to remember IDs, passwords and account numbers.

"TrueMe brings the security and protection of our industry-leading biometric services to the Internet for the first time, providing a new layer of privacy and convenience to PC users everywhere," said Jon Siegal, executive vice president, Pay By Touch. "A recent Visa survey says consumers are more concerned about the loss of personal and financial data than they are over terrorism.

"Clearly this is an issue of concern to consumers and businesses alike. Our solution provides greater security and benefits to both the user and businesses than other solutions out there, and it does so without expecting the user to jump hoops all to get perhaps minimally better security than what is presently offered."

Pay By Touch said more than three million Americans have enrolled in it's biometric payment network through 2,400 retail locations across 44 states to date, Seigal said. These customers can use their finger to make private, secure purchases wherever they see the Pay By Touch logo and the plan is for the company to continue to sign on new merchants while forging a market presence in Canada and the U.K. in the coming weeks.

TrueMe could also enable businesses to provide customers, partners, and employees with secure, authenticated access to their computers, desktop applications and password-protected Web sites and services such as banking and Internet service providers (ISPs). The solution's protection also extends to enterprise applications like Salesforce.com's no-demand business services, officials said.

To that end, Salesforce.com, PC maker Lenovo, and biometric security solutions provider UPEK are among the first providers supported by TrueMe. TrueMe has certified the integrated finger sensors on the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 and X60.

Pay By Touch also announced that it has teamed with UPEK to offer a TrueMe-branded and certified USB finger sensor for users that do not have sensors built-in to their PCs. The company is also certifying millions of UPEK sensors that are already embedded in laptops and USB devices. TrueMe uses secure hardware to provide finger-to-server security, greatly reducing identity theft threats, such as phishing and Trojan horse attacks.

When signing on to a TrueMe enabled system, a user touches a finger sensor built into a computer or attached as a USB device. Information about the user's finger is encrypted inside the finger sensor and combined with the unique device ID before it is sent to the TrueMe authentication servers. The user's information is never exposed to the computer operating system or the public Internet.

"What we provide is a very personal and secure service, it is not a public experience," UPEK's Goelz said. "It's a faster transaction, consumers are finding it very convenient, and for people concerned about identity theft, this technique thwarts that threat."

The TrueMe authentication servers then decrypt and process the information, authenticate the user, and ensure he or she is authorized to use the specified device. The user's authenticated identity is sent through a secure connection to the website or service that the customer is trying to access. If the person is identified as an authorized user, he or she is immediately granted access.

With the TrueMe service, the data on the computer can be protected with the same finger sensor used for online authentication. In addition, multiple users can share the same computer by registering their individual fingers on the TrueMe sensor without compromising security, the company said.

TrueMe would be available in late October, with pricing based on a per-user, per year basis.

Pay By Touch Unveils TrueMe (tm)

Pay By Touch(TM), the leader in integrated biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions, today announced the debut of TrueMe(TM), the first secure, on- demand biometric authentication service on the Internet.

TrueMe (trueme.com) gives PC users a fast, easy and secure way to identify themselves, interact and transact on the Web using their fingerprints. By simply sliding a finger on a TrueMe-certified finger sensor, users can securely access their Web-based accounts with no need to remember IDs, passwords or account numbers. TrueMe is quick and easy to use and, most importantly, safe.

"With the continued growth of identity theft, credit card fraud and phishing scams, security on the Internet is more important than ever," said John Rogers, founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pay By Touch. "TrueMe brings the security and protection of our industry-leading biometric services to the Internet for the first time, providing a new layer of privacy and convenience to PC users everywhere."

The debut of TrueMe is a significant milestone in Pay By Touch's continued growth and expansion into new markets. Already, more than three million Americans have enrolled in Pay By Touch's biometric payment network through 2,400 retail locations across 44 states.

TrueMe enables businesses to provide customers, partners and employees with secure, authenticated access to their computers, desktop applications and password-protected Web sites and services such as online banking, e-commerce and Internet service providers (ISPs). TrueMe's protection also extends to enterprise applications such as salesforce.com's on-demand business services.

Salesforce.com, PC industry giant Lenovo(TM) and biometric security solutions provider UPEK(R) will be among the first providers supported by TrueMe, which is being demonstrated today at salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference.* Pay By Touch selected ThinkPad notebooks for the layered security components they offer, including Lenovo's ThinkVantage Technologies and Client Security Solution.

"When we announced AppExchange, we knew that many innovative applications would follow -- from both inside and outside salesforce.com," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. "We are thrilled to see TrueMe integrated with salesforce.com's on-demand business services. It brings an unprecedented level of security and convenience to our customers with minimal effort on their part."

"With TrueMe, a simple touch of the finger gives Chief Security Officers the security they demand while giving users the simplicity they desire," said Jon Siegal, Executive Vice President, Pay By Touch. "TrueMe satisfies both needs without the hassle of multiple User IDs and passwords."

Pay By Touch certified the integrated finger sensors on select Lenovo ThinkPad(R) T60 and X60 notebooks for meeting security, reliability and support criteria. "We have already shipped more than three million notebooks with fingerprint readers and our customers are excited about the added security now available on their ThinkPads using TrueMe," said Marc Godin, vice president of Marketing, Notebook Business Unit, Lenovo. "With the holiday gift-giving season approaching, Lenovo customers using biometrics will benefit from a level of security previously not available in the industry, and can feel confident that their financial information is protected while they shop online."

Teaming with UPEK to Deliver a Compatible TrueMe Finger Sensor

Pay By Touch also announced today that it has teamed with UPEK to offer a TrueMe-branded and certified USB finger sensor for users that do not have sensors built in to their PCs. The Company is also certifying millions of UPEK sensors that are already embedded in laptops and USB devices to provide finger-to-server security.

"TrueMe is integrating our unique finger security solutions into a ground- breaking authentication service" said Alan Kramer, UPEK President and CEO. "The same level of hardware-based security and convenience UPEK provides to millions of users for their personal and business computers can now be extended over the Internet by creating a trusted path between businesses and their customers."

How TrueMe Works

1. When signing on to a TrueMe enabled system, a user simply touches a TrueMe certified finger sensor built into a computer or attached as a USB device. Information about the user's finger is encrypted inside the finger sensor and combined with the unique device ID before it is sent to the TrueMe authentication servers. The user's information is never exposed to the computer operating system or to the public Internet.

2. The TrueMe authentication servers then decrypt and process the information, authenticate the user, and ensure that he or she is authorized to use the specified device. The user's authenticated identity is sent through a secure connection to the website or service that the customer is trying to access. If the person is identified as an authorized user, he or she is immediately granted access.

3. With the TrueMe service, the data on the computer can be protected with the same finger sensor used for online authentication. In addition, multiple users can share the same computer by registering their individual fingers on the TrueMe sensor without compromising security. With other security devices, sharing is nearly impossible and local data protection is not addressed.

The TrueMe service is available on a per-user, per year basis. To learn more, please visit http://www.trueme.com/ .

Editor's Note: Jon Siegal, Executive Vice President, Pay By Touch, will demonstrate the new TrueMe service at the salesforce.com User and Developer Conference Monday, October 9th, 12:30 p.m. Expo Hall, Presentation Theater A. He will demonstrate TrueMe during the rest of the conference in the AppExchange Partner Pavilion.