Facial recognition alone won’t be too much help against new digital attacks this year — report

Like most other facets of the nation’s reality, its digital life is forecast to be trickier this year than last year, a sobering prospect all by itself. It is not clear that facial recognition alone will help matters in 2021.

The seer in this case is consumer credit reporter Experian. Its researchers have published several threats that they say will make operations difficult for organizations of all sizes.

Automation employed by fraudsters is going to result in “constant automated attacks,” according to the ‘2021 Future of Fraud Forecast’ from Experian.

Methods including script creation and digital ID credential stuffing will make attacks feel less like focused campaigns by hacker groups and more like a fact of daily life. Businesses will see routine fraudulent onboardings, and companies and consumers will face a steady tide of account takeovers.

The answer to this unhappy prediction — dumping the use of user names and passwords — looks unlikely right now. Not only are consumers clinging to the outdated safeguards that they profess to hate, but biometrics have yet to win over many consumers.

Facial recognition will be challenged on a technological level too, as hackers use AI to create profoundly realistic images of fictitious people for use in creating fraudulent identities.

Multiple techniques, tools and technologies will be needed to prevent these crimes, which for many businesses means investing yet more money after booting up expensive facial recognition safeguards.

At the same time, new federal economic stimulus programs will be accompanied by new cyberattacks to syphon off as much of the money as possible, according to Experian.

That will be coupled with the COVID weariness of business owners — particularly those who put in the time and money to finally mount serious digital interfaces for customers in 2020. Experian researchers say that their efforts will be tested by hackers this year.

Half measures and financially expedient security decisions, they write, will be rewarded with large financial losses in 2021 and beyond.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Experian  |  facial recognition  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  onboarding  |  secure transactions