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The Future of Security is Behavioral Biometrics

Try this. Grab your phone. Unlock it and toggle through your apps. Type a couple text messages; scroll through your photo gallery. Now ask a friend to do the same and watch what happens. Pay close attention. Try to replicate each one of his or her interactions with your phone.

You can't. Even if you could copy your friend move by move, hundreds of interactions exist beyond what the human eye can see, from the pressure you use when you type to the speed of your scrolls. This forms the premise of behavioral biometrics. Behavioral biometrics analyze the interactions that a user has with a device or an application. Right now, it’s making mobile banking more secure and efficient.

Banking on Biometrics

Biometric authentication requires a person to complete a physical, intermittent act, such as a fingerprint scan or a voice identification test. You can have an end-to-end secure mobile banking session; however, it is too disruptive to be practical. What customer would willingly authenticate every ten seconds to complete a basic money transfer?

Samsung SDS Nexsign™ with BioCatch behavioral biometrics is designed to elevate the security of the mobile banking experience without disrupting the user journey. Nexsign supports face scan, fingerprint scan and voice identification modalities primarily for the initial login, as well as for authenticating at specific points in a banking session. What separates Nexsign in combination with BioCatch from other biometric authentication solutions is its ability to analyze more than 2000 behavioral parameters while you are in a session. Instead of asking, BioCatch sits silently in the background continually authenticating without impeding on the user experience.

From Security to Opportunity

Samsung SDS Nexsign biometric authentication is certified by the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance. This certification earns Nexsign the classification of enterprise-grade biometrics. The distinction is important because it distinguishes Nexsign from consumer-grade biometrics platforms that lack the higher level of security needed to protect businesses and financial service firms.

Nexsign offers a lot of benefits to banks hoping to decrease the likelihood of fraud and friction in the mobile banking experience. With behavioral biometrics, customers can access mobile payment and money transfer apps without actively authenticating. However, if an intruder were to steal or hack the user's device and try to access the user's information, he or she would be quickly prompted to provide secondary or step up authentication. The intruder could not match the user's behavioral biometric profile.

On the flip side, Nexsign can also identify times when additional security measures are not necessary. A current pain point in mobile banking is that when a customer has a new device, the bank will often block and cancel transactions because it does not recognize the device. Nexsign can deescalate these situations because although the device would not be the same, the user's interactions would still match his or her established biometric profile.

Perhaps the greatest improvement Nexsign can provide is helping banks meet the growing demand for mobile banking. It's no secret consumers are becoming more reliant on mobile. Banks have been hesitant to take the plunge due to perceived shortcomings in mobile security, limiting the amount of money customers can transfer over the phone. With more advanced solutions like Nexsign in place, banks can take those crucial first steps to bridging the gap between what can be done at the bank or on a PC and what can be done via mobile.

Behavioral biometrics will disrupt the mobile banking industry. How can banks leverage these technologies today to elevate the customer experience?

VP, Digital Innovation Solutions, Diane Carlson
VP, Digital Innovation Solutions, Diane Carlson
Samsung SDS America