HOUSTON — Credit unions who process their ATM and debit transactions with the PULSE EFT Association will soon have available another level of fraud protection, according to an announcement from the organization, which is an affiliate of Discover Financial Services.

The new service, dubbed DebitProtect, is a neural network that will cover both transactions that use a personal identification number and those that cardholders validate with a signature. The service uses a scoring system to evaluate transactions and alerts financial institutions by e-mail should possibly fraudulent transactions be identified.

"Because debit cards are used differently than credit cards, PULSE designed the DebitProtect system based on a highly customized data model developed specifically for debit portfolios," said PULSE President Dave Schneider. "This neural model will be continuously refined utilizing fraud data obtained from PULSE issuers. In addition, the service was developed for ease of use and does not require any technical changes on the part of PULSE participants. As a result, financial institutions large and small will benefit greatly from the service–the broadest of its kind implemented at the EFT network level."