BioCatch identifies difficulties adapting to emerging financial threats

New research from behavioral biometrics firm BioCatch has identified concerns from financial institutions about dealing with emerging financial threats, finding 78 percent of them were concerned with their ability to respond quickly and effectively.

The vast majority – 8 out of 10 – of financial institutions surveyed also said they struggle to provide digital experiences that are “both frictionless and secure” according to research.

In addition, 83 percent of the respondents say the market environment demands that they keep up with approaches for responding to financial crime.

The research, which talked to 150 financial institutions across Europe, North, and Latin America, also touched on how different aspects of an institution interact with each other when it comes to preventing financial crime. 

Three quarters of financial institutions agree that integrating enterprise fraud management (EFM) and AML capabilities is critical to their ability to respond to financial crime quickly.

However, only 8 percent of banking organizations have managed to fully integrate people, processes, and tools across EFM and AML as per the report. 

The announcement argued that behavioral biometric intelligence can act as a “critical link” between EFM, AML, and cyber teams, by allowing teams to work together by sharing data internally and with external authorities. 

It’s not just Biocatch that is promoting the use of behavioral biometrics.

As part of a recent byline in Finance Monthly, Rob Woods, Market Planning Director at LexisNexis Risk Solutions argued that behavioral biometrics may be key for financial services providers looking to lessen the impact of these emerging financial threats.

Woods first outlined the serious risks posed by application fraud and account takeovers (ATO).

Application fraud is when a  criminal uses either stolen or fake data to create new accounts to commit fraud, while account takeovers are where criminals, without consent, take over an existing account, usually to purchase high value items.

The exec outlined how behavioral biometrics, distinguished from purely physical biometrics, such as cross checking an image of face against data, can help fight these types of attack.

For example, he argues that the speed or style of typing or way a device is held, can be used to build a representation of who a user is.

Woods thinks that if for example someone is typing frantically, in contrast to the image of the person built up by behavioral biometrics, companies could then activate additional layers of security or cancel the transaction altogether to prevent these types of fraud. 

Recent research from Biocatch has confirmed the growing risk posed by account takeover style threats, 12 percent of all fraud in EMEA comes from Remote Access Trojan (RAT) attacks according to the report. 

Article Topics

banking  |  behavioral biometrics  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  financial crime  |  fraud prevention  |  secure transactions