
This process replaced manual entry and avoided possible key stroke errors. During a transaction, the customer's account number was read by the card reader. It allowed the customer to type in a secret code, which is transformed by the device, using a microprocessor, into another code for the teller. The device consisted of two keypads, one for the customer and one for the teller. The Identikey system consisted of a card reader console, two customer PIN pads, intelligent controller and built-in electronic interface package. The system was designed to let banks and thrift institutions switch to a plastic card environment from a passbook program. It was a card reader and customer identification system, providing a terminal with plastic card and PIN capabilities. The product was released as the Identikey. He founded Atalla Corporation (now Utimaco Atalla) in 1972, and commercially launched the "Atalla Box" in 1973. Patent 3,938,091 for his PIN verification system, which included an encoded card reader and described a system that utilized encryption techniques to assure telephone link security while entering personal ID information that was transmitted to a remote location for verification. Atalla invented the first PIN-based hardware security module (HSM), dubbed the "Atalla Box," a security system that encrypted PIN and ATM messages and protected offline devices with an un-guessable PIN-generating key. James Goodfellow, the inventor who patented the first personal identification number, was awarded an OBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours. 1972, Lloyds Bank issued the first bank card to feature an information-encoding magnetic strip, using a PIN for security. The first ATM system was that of Barclays in London, in 1967 it accepted cheques with machine-readable encoding, rather than cards, and matched the PIN to the cheque. The PIN originated with the introduction of the automated teller machine (ATM) in 1967, as an efficient way for banks to dispense cash to their customers.
