Next year’s holiday season will be different in at least one small way than it was in 2005: The U.S. government recently mandated that financial institutions enhance their online security systems by supplementing the traditional technique of passwords and user IDs with another form of user authentication. “The government initiative gives a clear and loud wake-up call to a procrastinating U.S. banking industry that has not moved beyond relying on single-factor reusable password authentication,” said Avivah Litan, an industry analyst with Gartner Group. Full Story