ValidSoft wins Jury Vote award from the Florin Transaction Service Innovation Awards

LONDON, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ValidSoft (www.validsoft.com), a 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 awarded  the highly coveted honors of "Winner: Jury Vote" at this year's prestigious "Florin" 2013 awards (The Florin Transaction Services Innovation Awards).This award recognizes innovation in the transaction services industry. The Florins were established in 2010 by the EPCA Payment Summit (European Payments Consulting Association) and The Paypers, a leading independent source of news and analysis for professionals in the global payment community.

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Beating off stiff competition from five other companies, ValidSoft has been recognized for its SMART™ (Secure Mobile Architecture for Real-time Transactions) telecommunications-based technology which offers a multi-factor, multi-layer authentication solution designed to verify and authenticate transactions on mobile devices. SMART can protect transactions for M-banking, mobile wallets and P2P payments, and because of its flexibility, is custom designed for both feature and smart-phone technology. The Florin 2013 jury members are Gerard de Moura, Galitt, EPCA representative (chairman); Dave Birch, Consult Hyperion, Director; Mark Buitenhek, ING, Global Head of Payments & Cash Management; Bo Harald, Tieto, Head of Executive Advisors and, Javier Santamaria Navarette - Santander, Subdirector General.

"The Florin Award aims at recognizing genuine innovation in the payment industry," said Gerard de Moura, Chairman of the Florin jury and Managing Director of Galitt. "Our very demanding jury has selected SMART among many other great innovations, valuating the combination of multiple factors to improve the level of authentication while keeping both the enrolment and process easy and convenient for end-users. We all agree ValidSoft is paving the way for secure mobile transactions."

Commenting on the award win, Pat Carroll, CEO of ValidSoft, said: "we believe this prestigious award confirms ValidSoft as leader in the fraud prevention industry.  As the use of smartphones for banking and payments is growing at a rate of nearly 53% per year, security and consumer privacy are paramount because fraud will certainly draw on the vulnerabilities of this new channel. Telecommunication – specifically a mobile-based solution – is key to combatting the threat of fraud. 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 recognised as one of the key players at the core of this industry shift."

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 proprietary Software Defined Network (SDN) platforms for the telecommunications industry that empower Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Enablers (MVNEs) and Aggregators (MVNAs) with a full suite of Applications, Full OSS/BSS Systems, Delivery Platforms, Support and Managed Services, on-site, cloud, hybrid and S/PaaS solutions, including Network, Mobile Internet ID Solutions, Secure Remote Access Management, Loyalty Management and Transaction Processing Services, superior Industry Expertise and high quality Customer Service without substantial upfront investment. Elephant Talk can count several of the world's leading Mobile Operators amongst its customers including Vodafone, T-Mobile and Zain, and virtually all business is focused on tier 1 and tier 2 operators worldwide. Visit: www.elephanttalk.com.  

Media Contacts:

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

US: Fishburn & Hedges
Jessica Morris
+ 1 212 459 6232
[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 Elephant Talk Communications Corp.