As the means of digital fraud grow ever more sophisticated, the subtle art of behavioral biometrics offers a truly powerful defence, argues NuData in a new blog post.
According to the company’s own digital security assessments, account takeover attacks have increased by a whopping 630 percent between February and May of this year. Such attacks can be the product of ‘brute force’ attacks that use automated scripts to determine username and password combinations. These kinds of automated systems can also be used to manipulate web applications, allowing for attack after attack until one finally succeeds in account takeover.
“Armed with automation, passwords, and credentials, cybercriminals pose as real customers to gain access to bank accounts and go on shopping sprees,” NuData argues. But that’s where the kind of passive, continuous authentication of behavioral biometrics comes in: While it’s a relatively straightforward matter for a fraudster to use a password as proof of identity, it’s nearly impossible for that fraudster to replicate the subtle patterns in typing speed, mouse movement, and so on that pertain to an intended victim. Thus a behavior-tracking system that can effectively model these patterns can pose a serious obstacle to account takeover attacks.
It’s an approach shared across the emerging behavioral biometrics industry, and one that could offer a compelling countermeasure against the advancing threat of online identity fraud.
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August 17, 2017 – by Alex Perala
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