ValidSoft shortlisted for prestigious FStech award

LONDON, Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ValidSoft (www.validsoft.com), the global supplier of advanced telecommunications-based fraud prevention, authentication and transaction verification solutions, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Elephant Talk Communications Corp. (NYSE MKT: ETAK), was shortlisted for the 'Technology Provider of the Year' award at the 2013 FStech Awards.

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The FStech Awards run annually and recognize excellence and innovation in the field of information technology within the UK and EMEA financial services sector. These awards are highly coveted among the UK and EMEA financial technology industry. ValidSoft appears against a number of other prominent industry players including BT and Monitise.

The product that has gained ValidSoft its place in the shortlist is its SMART™ (Secure Mobile Architecture for Real-time Transactions) platform. This is a telecommunications-based, multi-factor authentication solution designed to verify and authenticate transactions on mobile devices. The architecture is designed to protect transactions regardless of application type, the mobile device being used and the underlying mobile network technology. SMART can protect transactions for M-banking, mobile wallets and P2P payments, and because of its flexibility, is suitable for both feature and smart-phone technology.

Pat Carroll, CEO of ValidSoft, comments: "As the use of smartphones for banking and payments is dramatically increasing, analysts are forecasting that the number of payments using mobile devices is growing at a rate of nearly 53% a year, security is paramount because fraud will certainly draw on the vulnerabilities of this new channel. Telecommunications – and specifically a mobile-based solution - is key to combatting the threat of fraud and ValidSoft is uniquely positioned to bring the power of that sector to the world of security to create innovative solutions. There is a terrific opportunity to shape this new landscape and ValidSoft is pleased to be at the core of this industry shift."

The winners of the FStech Awards will be announced at the Gala Dinner in London on 17 April 2013.

ValidSoft has achieved considerable success with its technology. Besides being shortlisted for the FStech award, ValidSoft was recently the recipient of the prestigious Banking Technology award together with Santander and FICO/Adeptra for the Best Security Initiative for 2012.  This award recognizes ValiSoft's SIM Swap technology, the world's first real-time detection and prevention application to tackle the growing problem of SIM Swapping in the banking industry (refer: http://www.fico.com/en/Company/News/Pages/01-24-2013-Santander-Wins-Banking-Technology-Award-for-SIM-Swapping-Fraud-Solution-Using-FICO-Adeptra-Technology.aspx).The ability to detect SIM Swapping in real-time is an inherent component of ValidSoft's SMART™ architecture, the world's only indigenous custom designed security architecture for the mobile payments world, which also includes Proximity Correlation and world leading Voice Biometrics capability.

About ValidSoft:
ValidSoft Limited has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Elephant Talk since early 2010 and underpins its mobile/cloud security offering. The company is a market leader in providing solutions to counter electronic fraud relating to a variety of bank, card, internet and telephone channels. ValidSoft's solutions are used to verify the authenticity of both parties to a transaction (Mutual Authentication), the security of the relevant telecommunication channel used (Secure Communications), and the integrity of transactions itself (Transaction Verification) for the mass market, in a highly cost effective and secure manner while being very easy to use.

The company counts several leading worldwide service providers and institutions amongst its customers.  ValidSoft is the only security software company in the world that has been granted three European Privacy Seals. Visit www.validsoft.com.

About Elephant Talk:
Elephant Talk Communications Corp. (NYSE MKT: ETAK)is a leading international provider of Software Defined Network (SDN) enabling services. The Company's mission is to provide a single service, fully enabling and securing the mobile cloud.

Elephant Talk empowers Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) by providing a cloud based mobile communications infrastructure, operating software and managed services, based mostly on company developed and owned software. We enable these Mobile Operators and Virtual Network Operators by offering a full suite of products, delivery platforms, support services, superior industry expertise and high quality customer service without substantial upfront investment.

As a specialized outsourcing partner, we provide operating software, managed services, cloud and SaaS solutions, an integrated transaction and delivery platform to the mobile telecommunications industry globally. Our products include remote health care, credit card fraud prevention, mobile internet ID security, secure remote file access management, loyalty and transaction management services and a whole range of other emerging mobile services.

Elephant Talk can count several of the world's leading Mobile Operators amongst their customers including Vodafone, T-Mobile and Zain, and virtually all business is focused on tier 1 operators worldwide. Visit www.elephanttalk.com.

Media Contacts

Public Relations:
UK: Fishburn Hedges +44 (0)20 7839 4321
[email protected]

Investor Relations:
Steve Gersten
Elephant Talk Communications Corp.
+ 1 813 926 8920
[email protected]

Peter Salkowski
The Blueshirt Group
+1 415 489 2184
[email protected]

SOURCE ValidSoft