BehavioSec aims to bring behavioral biometrics solution to US companies

Stockholm-based BehavioSec, which offers user authentication technology that identifies people by measuring users’ typing and swiping behavior on their laptops and mobile phones, has set its sights on the U.S. market, according to a report by FierceFinanceIT.

Over the past year, BehavioSec has added projects in the UK, Switzerland, the Benelux countries, and is currently in talks with companies in the US to provide them with the technology.

In addition to its headquarters in Sweden, BehavioSec also has offices in London and Palo Alto.

The company’s behavioral biometrics authentication technology can measure how quickly users hit and release keys, as well as how fast they move on to the next keys.

The user’s keyboard motions are measured in sequence and analyzed, enabling BehavioSec to identify the pattern and rhythm of a user’s typing.

Banks and payment providers can deploy this authentication feature for added security without slowing down the process of customers accessing their services, which often occurs when answering a series of security questions or entering additional passwords.

On a mobile phone, BehavioSec’s authentication technology measures the X axis and Y axis coordinates of where users place their fingers, the surface area their fingers cover, how hard they press their screens, and the angle at which they hold their phones.

“Using all these different inputs and modalities, we can combine them together and make strong biometrics,” said Neil Costigan, CEO of BehavioSec.

BehavioSec said its technology currently has 15 million users in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, which translates to 95 percent of the internet banking users in that region.

Additionally, the technology is on track to authenticate 1.2 billion transactions in 2015 just in the Nordic region alone, up from 450 million in the previous year.

“I personally believe it’s not making pin codes and passwords that people have a problem with, it’s the management of them,” said Costigan. “It’s constantly changing them and it’s that one company has one rule and at another it has to be longer and different.”

Similar to how credit card companies measure a consumer’s purchasing behavior and looks for any changes in purchasing patterns or locations, BehavioSec alerts banks or payment providers when users’ typing is inconsistent with their previous patterns, said Costigan.

Once alerted, it is the financial services provider’s responsibility to take action, such as calling the user or putting a block on the account.

Based on multiple results in trials, BehavioSec has a verified capture rate of 99.7 for logons, and 99.87 for full banking sessions.

Previously reported, New Frontier Group recently announced it will integrate BehavioSec’s Behavioral Authentication into its online banking solution, as well as to resell Behaviosec to NFG customers.

Article Topics

banking  |  behavioral biometrics  |  Behaviosec  |  biometrics  |  continuous authentication