Eckoh secures two new 20-year US patents

Eckoh secures two new 20-year US patents underpinning US payments revenue and delivering payment innovation

• US Patent and Trademark Office to award Eckoh two further patents for its unique secure payment solution CallGuard
• First patent will be granted for its tokenisation solution for card and personal data
• Second patent will enable Eckoh to strengthen security for phone payments using voice biometrics

Eckoh plc (AIM:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, has received notification from the US Patent and Trademark Office that two new 20-year patents will be granted for Eckoh’s industry-leading contact centre security solution, CallGuard.

In 2015, Eckoh was awarded a US patent for part of its CallGuard offering but these new awards will ensure that all current Eckoh US payments revenue and future contracted payments revenue will be protected by at least one Eckoh patent. With over $13m of US payments contracts having been won in the last 18 months, and the US market growing rapidly, this protection of Eckoh’s intellectual property is strategically vital in ensuring we continue to lead this key market.

CallGuard offers contact centres a simple way to take payments securely, complying with PCI DSS requirements and prevents payment card data from entering the contact centre environment. This action minimises risk against the increasing problem of card-not-present (‘CNP’) fraud, the cost of which reached $5.2 billion in the US in 2016^[1] and is projected to rise to $7 billion by 2020^[2].

The first new CallGuard patent to be awarded is for Eckoh’s tokenisation process which automatically replaces real card payment data or other personal data such as Social Security numbers with valueless ‘placeholders’ thereby encrypting and protecting customer’s sensitive data. These placeholders can flow safely through a contact centre’s telephony and data networks, reducing the risk of hacking and ensuring agents are not exposed to customers’ sensitive data.

The second US patent that will be awarded is for transformational technology that not only provides a secure way for merchants to take a phone payment but also identify potentially fraudulent callers.

Eckoh’s advancement here uses both voice biometrics to authenticate a caller, and a phone ‘footprint’ to authenticate the caller’s mobile device. This dual authentication mechanism will provide an even more secure way for merchants to authenticate that the caller is the genuine cardholder. Today, a fraudster may be in possession of stolen card details, but they are highly unlikely to pass a voice biometric check and to also be calling from the cardholder’s own mobile phone. As such, Eckoh’s new-patented approach could reduce the risk of CNP fraud substantially.

Nik Philpot, Eckoh’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our US payments business has seen huge momentum in recent years, and so we are particularly pleased to secure these two new CallGuard patents within the biggest global market for our technology. Eckoh continues to make significant advancements to keep customers’ data safe within contact centres. These awards confirm that Eckoh remains at the forefront of contact centre security and is testament to the depth of technical talent we have in the company, as we continue to produce innovative products that we can then commercialise.”