Multifactor authentication slowly entering call center plans

The number of contact center decision makers planning to replace knowledge-based authentication (KBA) with new technologies for multifactor authentication has more than doubled from 8 percent last year to 17 percent for 2019, according to TRUSTID’s second annual report on the call center authentication landscape.

Call centers are the top vector for criminal attacks against the financial services industry, according to 51 percent of respondents to the 2019 State of Call Center Authentication (PDF) report.

A survey of contact center managers, customer experience leaders, information technology professionals and fraud managers shows “quick and easy customer enrollment” and “improved fraud detection” narrowly edge “authentication accuracy” as the top requirement, 91 percent each to 90 percnet, the report says. The prioritization of speed is also seen in an increase in the number of respondents who want pre-answer call authentication from 38 percent last year to 54 percent.

“Much more” criminal activity was observed in the last 12 months from virtualized calls, such as from computer- or web-based calling services, according to 40 percent, while 32 percent experienced “much more” spoofing activity. TRUSTID says this is due to spoofed calls becoming easier to detect, but the same technology recognizing virtualized calls’ signaling data and call certificates as correct.

For biometrics providers, further good news comes from the increase in dissatisfaction with current caller authentication methods, from 31 to 46 percent “somewhat” or “very” unsatisfied respondents, as well as the belief by 76 percent that preventing account takeovers is possible without negatively affecting the customer experience.

TRUSTID was acquired by digital analytics company Neustar in January.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  call centers  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  multifactor authentication  |  TRUSTID