ATTUS Prepares Financial Institutions for Anticipated USA PATRIOT Act Ruling, Protects Against ID Fraud.

Business Editors

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2003

Compliance solutions verify new customers' social security numbers,

driver's licenses and other IDs

ATTUS Technologies, a leading provider of financial services software for regulatory compliance, homeland security and fraud prevention, announced a new line of identity verification solutions, WatchDOG SSN(TM), WatchDOG PHOTO ID(TM) and WatchDOG CIP(TM).

The three software products are designed to reduce annual losses related to identity fraud in the financial services industry and provide robust alternatives to help institutions comply with the anticipated ruling on Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The U.S. Department of Treasury is expected to release its final guidelines on Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act by the end of the month, which will finalize the minimum requirements financial institutions must meet in verifying the identity of all new customers.

"Following the Sept. 11th attacks, it was discovered that the terrorists involved opened 35 bank accounts using false social security numbers. If banks had had simple identity checking software like WatchDOG, the terrorists opening those accounts would not have gone undetected," said Trey Sullivan, founder and CEO, ATTUS Technologies. "With the majority of bank fraud schemes using invalid or expired social security numbers, ensuring accurate records is almost impossible without the right compliance software."

-- WatchDOG SSN verifies social security numbers of financial

institution's new customers by checking the numbers against

social security databases, without incurring online

transaction charges. When a social security number and date of

birth are entered into the WatchDOG SSN system, the software

validates when the social security number was issued, the

state in which it originated and whether the number was

assigned in a timeframe consistent with the customer's age.

The software also verifies that the social security number

does not belong to a deceased person. As each social security

number is reviewed, WatchDOG SSN records the system's

responses as proof of compliance with Section 326. ATTUS

regularly updates WatchDOG SSN with newly assigned or expired

numbers from the Social Security Administration.

-- WatchDOG PHOTO ID provides financial institutions with a

compliance solution that meets the U.S. Department of

Treasury's requirements to verify government-issued photo

identification for all customers. WatchDOG PHOTO ID views the

most current versions of government-issued photo IDs including

driver's licenses in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,

green cards and other Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration 

Services documents. In addition to being able to view an exact

copy of each photo ID card, a written description alerts users

to particular ID security features that should be examined,

such as holograms.

-- WatchDOG CIP (Customer Identification Program) offers

increased verification and fraud prevention capabilities by

combining social security number validation, ID and driver's

license verification, and scanning of enhanced OFAC list for

designated terrorists, blocked entities and sanctioned

countries. WatchDOG CIP is the only Section 326, ID

verification tool that allows institutions to perform baseline

verifications on the majority of all new accounts without

incurring high transaction costs or having to transmit data

over the Internet. WatchDOG CIP offers added security over the

privacy of sensitive customer information and provides

complete control over costs. For higher risk accounts,

WatchDOG CIP provides an added level of verification, "Level

Two," with secure access to more than 20 billion public and

private records. WatchDOG CIP also provides guidance and

regulatory content that helps banks manage and adhere to their

internal CIP policies.

For organizations with high volumes of new customers, ATTUS integrates the full line of WatchDOG identity verification solutions into existing core processing and platform systems, using a traditional software developer's kit or Microsoft's(R) .NET compliance solutions. ATTUS' other signature WatchDOG software solutions address OFAC, USA PATRIOT Act and FinCEN regulatory and compliance issues.

The WatchDOG family of products is compatible with both Microsoft(R) Windows and any standard Web service implementation.

"We give our clients peace of mind by enabling them to succeed in reducing losses to ID fraud and avoiding future regulatory penalties," added Sullivan. "The WatchDOG family of products are affordable and reliable, and we guarantee it."

About ATTUS Technologies

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., ATTUS Technologies is an industry leader in software and services for regulatory compliance, homeland security and fraud prevention. Since 1998, ATTUS has provided software solutions to banks, credit unions, insurance companies and securities firms. Now more than 2,000 financial institutions utilize ATTUS' WatchDOG(TM) suite of standard and customizable compliance solutions for the USA PATRIOT Act and the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). ATTUS provides full support and a 100 percent customer satisfaction guarantee on all of their products. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.attustech.com or call 1-888-494-8449.