Behavioral and passive biometrics argued as key to secure online user experience by BioCatch and NuData

Behavioral and passive biometrics are the means for businesses to rescue online user experiences from the friction used to secure banking and shopping transactions, according to a pair of new blog posts from BioCatch and NuData Security.

Fraud detection solutions are undermining the customer experience of digital banking processes with mobile apps, online banking and other channels that have otherwise come to deliver simple and fast financial services, BioCatch says.

The company, which just closed a $145 million funding round, cites Gartner research that suggests digital businesses providing adaptive customer experiences based on trust and risk assessments will have 15 percent higher revenue than others in 2023.

While location and device ID are traditional factors evaluated by fraud prevention systems, they are prone to high rates of false positives. Behavioral biometrics running continuously in the background, in contrast, can improve the onboarding experience by differentiating between characteristics such as high familiarity with data, which is associated with genuine users, and high familiarity with application processes and online forms, which is associated with fraud attempts.

The company also writes about the benefits of behavioral biometrics for preventing false declines and takeover fraud.

The rush to online transactions also includes a new group of users who previously shopped and banked at physical locations, NuData point out in its post. These new online users may return to their previously preferred modes of interaction after lockdowns end, but merchants have an opportunity to retain them as customers by using technologies like behavioral analytics and passive biometrics to improve the digital user experience without compromising security, the post argues.

Overall traffic at eCommerce and online financial institutions has been growing steadily since January, according to NuData, and financial companies within the NuData network have seen a significant overall increase in the volume of accounts accessed since the beginning of the year. New eCommerce accounts in the company’s network were up 62 percent in March, and have continued rising.

The Mastercard subsidiary notes that some businesses have considered lowering security barriers to keep things running smoothly, but the proliferation of stolen credentials and COVID-related scams makes this highly risky. By adopting on behavioral technologies, businesses can identify suspicious activity without relying on credentials or personally identifiable information that could be stolen.

NuData has published an eBook called “Shoppers are going digital; but is your user experience keeping up?” to help companies understand how the crisis can provide an opportunity to better serve customers.

The importance of continuous authentication is becoming clearer to organizations as they scramble to adjust to the changes wrought by the pandemic, BehavioSec VP of Products Jordan Blake recently explained to Biometric Update.

Recognizing behavior is part of the new wave of biometrics, Mastercard President of Cyber and Intelligence Solutions Ajay Bhalla recently wrote in a guest post for Biometric Update.

Article Topics

banking  |  behavioral biometrics  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  continuous authentication  |  ecommerce  |  fraud prevention  |  Mastercard  |  NuData Security  |  online authentication  |  secure transactions