In an example scenario consider that;
- I am a customer of organisation and I have two separate accounts with two different departments X and Y.
- I can login in to each department's website by using user id and password that is unique for each department.
- To update my personal details in any deprtment, I have to call this service provider and use a PIN code (sent to me earlier, through a secure channel). They have separate teams for each department so X doesn't know about Y.
- Although I have separate profiles/accounts for each department, note that the PIN code is the same whether I call department X or Y.
- In this scenario both departments have different levels of allowed actions associated with PIN code. For example I am not allowed to change my address when calling department X with this PIN because its considered lower level authentication factor. However if I want to do the same in department Y, I may be allowed to so because it is considered as higher level authentication factor.
Now the problems I see in this scheme are:
- A fraudster who has somehow skimmed my basic details, like Name, DOB etc can call department X ask for this PIN (which ironically can be given over the phone) because its considered to allow only low risk operations. Consequently once the fraudster gets this PIN, he can then call into department Y and perform changes without being challenged because its allows high risk operations.
- Second problem is that same PIN number is used for two different departments.
Now my question is that consider I can't have separate PIN codes's and they can't have same level of authentication associated to them for X and Y.
What can the organization do to stop fraudulent use of PIN code across different departments
Is there a way to maintain the validity of credentials by associating change of scope (department which resets/re-issues PIN code) and extent (change of personal information) to PIN code. So that misuse can be stopped.