National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) members, who are Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, will enjoy greater convenience and secured access to its membership portal (NTUC U Portal) when NTUC rolls out the OneKey Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) device to them as part of a mass registration exercise.
Starting from April 2014, eligble NTUC members will receive their OneKey devices by mail. Members who receive their OneKey device will receive their PIN Mailer password in a separate mail, within five working days. Members are encouraged to activate their OneKey devices with their PIN within 30 days and link it to NTUC U Portal.
Amid the rising trend of cyber attacks worldwide that have resulted in passwords being stolen en masse, most service providers require their users to change their passwords every three to six months. In addition, passwords are getting more complex with strict requirements that state passwords need to contain at least eight characters, one uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, numbers and special characters. All these factors have resulted in some users forgetting their passwords frequently, and abandoning the use of e-Services.
Dr Kwong Yuk Wah, Chief Information Officer, NTUC said, “Online security is very important to everyone. Although passwords act as the first line of defence, they are subjected to hacking and can be very vulnerable. With NTUC leveraging on the National Authentication Framework (NAF) and adopting OneKey to be the password mechanism for online services, we remove the hassle for members having to create and remember a complex password. At the same time, we also play a part to strengthen our infocomm security defence for passwords from being compromised by cyber threats.”
The news has been welcomed by NTUC members. Ms Edna Low, an NTUC member for over 14 years, said, "I’m very happy to know that NTUC is using OneKey as it makes it easier for me to login for transactions without having to remember another password. I often forget what passwords I have created for various online platforms and I have to keep asking for new passwords because of infrequent use."
Upon successful registration, members will be able to access a myriad of e-Services, which include checking of LinkPoints, applying for training grants, booking of holiday facilities, registering for NTUC events, as well as updating their personal information, on the NTUC U Portal using the device. The same device can be used to access the online services of all the 15 Service Providers currently on board the NAF, including NTUC U Portal, NTUC Income, RHB Bank and CIMB Securities. Members can log on to http://www.onekey.sg/your-onekey/sp-list.html for the complete list of participating Service Providers.
Welcoming NTUC on board the NAF, Mr Chai Chin Loon, Chief Operating Officer, Assurity Trusted Solutions (Assurity) said, “NTUC's innovative use of OneKey shows that user convenience can go hand in hand with online security. Our past surveys have revealed that Singaporeans find it challenging to create and remember unique, complex passwords for different online accounts. As a result, they often use the same password for all their online accounts, thus creating a single point of failure which hackers can easily exploit. Using OneKey at login removes the need to create and remember different passwords while providing an additional layer of security”.
Members can email helpdesk@assurity.sg or call the OneKey Customer Care Centre at (65) 6566 3539 (OKONEKEY) for assistance, whenever they face difficulties using the OneKey.
This exercise is expected to be completed by end June 2014.
