FICO Report Shows Canadians are Willing to Embrace Behavioral Biometrics

A new study shows that Canadians are generally be willing to accept biometric security practices in the financial industry. The findings come courtesy of FICO, which recently released the Canadian results of its Consumer Digital Banking survey.

In that survey, the majority (64 percent) of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to provide their bank with biometric information to protect their account, while an even greater number (72 percent) would allow traits like typing speed to be analyzed to enable behavioral biometric security. The numbers were similarly dramatic in the mobile space, with less than half (43 percent) preferring to use a traditional password to log into a banking app on a mobile device. One-time passwords were the most common alternative (around 60 percent), although 45 percent are already using fingerprint recognition. 

While those results are encouraging, the study did find some evidence of bad password behavior. Only 37 percent of the respondents set a different password for each of their accounts, and less than half of those people (16 percent) used a password manager. Twenty-two percent cycled between two to five passwords, while 24 percent wrote their passwords in a notebook.

Those habits have had a dampening effect on business. Twenty-six percent had abandoned a purchase after forgetting a password, and nine percent had decided not to open a new account with an existing provider after losing their old login information.

“With more Canadians banking online and through their mobile devices, it’s a critical time to evaluate how we protect ourselves and our financial information,” said FICO Canada Managing Director and VP Kevin Deveau. “The latest security tools and biometrics are a good place for Canadians to start improving their authentication habits.”

Deveau also warned about the rise in social engineering and phishing attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and advised Canadians to be extra vigilant with their digital security.

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May 13, 2020 – by Eric Weiss