Authentication
How do you scare away a client? What pushes a client over to the competition? Does this sound like the start of a story about people giving up on companies because of data leaks? Not this time. It may sound weird, but you can lose clients simply by adopting new authentication methods.
Generally, when companies try to make something more secure, they make it less convenient — and authentication methods are no exception. If you produce something valuable enough to protect with a password, people will try to get their hands on it. At some point, you will probably try adding another authentication factor.
You might think that clients, seeing how much you care about their safety, will feel even stronger loyalty than before. The thing is, though, that the benefits of additional security measures are felt only in their absence. At the same time, the inconvenience of added authentication complexity is always noticeable. As an example, I used to bank at an institution that required a one-time password for verification of every single online transaction. You could get 30 at a time but that required a visit in person to the bank. It was secure, sure, but also incredibly tedious, and I know at least three people who changed banks because of this feature.
At the same time, you can’t just give up on security features. That works for an extremely limited time — basically, right up until the first cyberincident. Talk to the people who were complaining about security tokens after you’ve lost their money.
That is why it is well worth considering alternative authentication methods: using measures that on the one hand will add identity checks and on the other hand will not inconvenience your clients. For example, use various metadata as additional authentication factors. Machine-learning-based algorithms can analyse hundreds of parameters in real time and perform dynamic risk assessment. Basically, they look at unique user parameters and compare them with patterns of legitimate behaviour. By analysing behavioural and biometric data and checking if the device in use has ever been (or is being) used for any fraudulent activity, a company can determine whether it’s a client or an intruder trying to access an online account.
Our new solution Kaspersky Advanced Authentication, part of the Kaspersky Fraud Prevention Platform, uses that approach, checking multiple factors to ensure only the right person gains access to an account. Adopting this solution saves money on implementation of two-factor authentication and protects your clients without a negative impact on their user experience.
Authentication is not the only fresh addition to the platform. We’ve also reinforced Kaspersky Fraud Protection with the Kaspersky Automated Fraud Analytics system, which helps detect fraud and money-laundering schemes.
To learn more about Kaspersky Fraud Prevention, click here.
Tips