What Experts are Saying about the Hottest Trends in Authentication

Noa Benari, VP Marketing at SecuredTouch

08.08.2018 10:00 am

Banks and financial service providers must offer advanced payment and banking services to mobile users in order to remain competitive. As fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated, the need for stronger authentication grows accordingly.

The transition to mobile in all things and the subsequent need for more sophisticated fraud prevention have catapulted the use of multi-factor authentication in banking and the financial sector to center stage. Yet, the inherent problem of friction continues to exist. Innovators are being encouraged to look for alternatives that both improve customer experience while delivering a seamless fraud protection layer.

Continuous authentication holds its value in assuring strong customer authentication by continually authenticating customers throughout their session without interrupting their transactions. By implementing continuous authentication, banks can dramatically lower risk when offering a wide range of financial services - which is why continuous authentication is one of this year’s leading trends.

Banks Beware of Automated Fraud Attacks

Here’s what industry experts are expecting to see:

Continuous authentication will be used to enable passive background monitoring without disrupting the user experience

In a report called 10 Top Trends in Payments in 2018, Dr. Garg and his peers foresee that payment firms and banks will continue to invest in advanced authentication technologies to combat fraud. The Capgemini report states that behavioral analytics combined with biometrics is expected to witness strong growth by banks seeking to continuously monitor for fraud in the background without impacting the user experience.

Dr. Gaurag Garg, Manager Market Intelligence Team, Capgemini Financial Services

Continuous authentication will work everywhere to address vulnerability at every single point of access.

Mr Ducharme asserts that the only type of authentication that is effective today is the kind that works seamlessly in all places. As the number of applications, users and points of access grows, so increases the points of vulnerability. Robust authentication depends on pervasiveness and the ability to transparently assess the assurance of a user’s identity. As these factors are essential to meeting modern security challenges, continuous authentication is a key trend that will gain traction in 2018.

Jim Ducharme, Vice President of Identity Products, RSA

Manufacturers will produce smartphones that use AI to combine continuous authentication with biometrics

Biometric authentication and machine learning is expected to emerge as leading trends this year. Noting that the ultimate goal is to “make user authentication continuous,” Cozza predicts that compelling innovations will deliver more personalized smartphone experiences based on device ecosystems. This year Cozza expects manufacturers to release smartphones that use AI to learn from user behaviors such as patterns of walking, swiping and typing.

Roberta Cozza, Research Director, Gartner

With new regulations demanding stronger authentication, user authentication will soon be fortified by additional layers enabling continuous authentication at every point of the technology thread

Ravin names continuous authentication as his top-trend for 2018. He notes that this trend has been fueled by the need for urgent implementation of stricter authentication regulations, such as the GDPR (by May 25, 2018) and PSD2 (by the end of 2019). Authentication on smartphones, tablets and notebooks is benefiting through device biometrics that use a combination of keystroke dynamics, device orientation (accelerometer) and location (network triangulation and GPS), in combination with other behaviors such as time, frequency and value of transaction.

Ravin Sanjith, Program Director, OpusResearch

Find out why static biometrics aren't enough anymore

The Future Lies in Continuous Authentication

Continuous authentication constitutes the strongest form of digital customer authentication by addressing vulnerabilities at every point of access and enabling passive background monitoring without disrupting the user experience. Moreover, it provides a key reinforcement for banks in monitoring transactions and catching fraudsters before they can cause any damage. With the growing use of AI and the advancement in phone technology, manufacturers will prioritize designing smartphones that support continuous authentication with behavioral biometrics leading to individualized and smooth transactions, while protecting customers and their assets.

This article originally appeared at: SecuredTouch.com