Securing the Future of Mobile Banking

Posted March 22, 2018

Today’s customers are drawn to the immediacy of the mobile experience, therefore, banks and financial institutions must be able to provide instant decisioning on loans, payments and other transactions.

But making those decisions instantly, and securely, has become more difficult than ever in the wake of corporate data breaches that have exposed personally identifiable information to cybercriminals everywhere.

So, it is more critical than ever that businesses secure their mobile apps, as well as ensure the safety of the entire mobile experience — or risk alienating a large customer base.

Quickly and efficiently securing mobile transactions requires a deep understanding of the customer across the entire lifecycle — something that can’t be done with static login credentials and passwords. Like all digital businesses, financial incumbents and fintechs can only achieve this by understanding a user’s unique digital DNA.

The good news is that the mobile platform offers abundant opportunities for multilayered analysis, which allows for highly accurate fraud prevention and authentication that is completely invisible to the user.

The key is to embrace deep profiling based on the transaction at hand, the device it is being performed on and the location of the transaction — all while cross-matching this back with historical behavior for that user.

This analysis includes:

Persistent Device Identification: Mobile devices offer a wealth of invaluable information to assess whether a legitimate device is associated with a particular user. They can also be used to establish persistent, strong device authentication — using information based on the SIM card in the phone (and whether the mobile carrier associates the same SIM card with that user), and also by employing cryptographic keys to the device, which allow for instant re-authentication for returning devices.

Geo-Location: Location information based on GPS hardware allows organizations to assess how the true location of the transacting device compares with previous transaction locations and also the physical locations (billing and shipping, for example) associated with that individual. This is crucial for identifying suspicious behavior, such as location spoofing and proxies.

Holistic Behavioral Analytics: A unique digital identity is made up of different behaviors across an individual’s personal and corporate life, and across the different services, websites and apps used. Tapping into shared data across platforms will give the full context needed to make real-time, accurate identity and trust decisions — in a manner that is completely invisible to the user.

With visibility into a user’s true identity, businesses can trust that the individual on the other end of a mobile transaction is in fact who they claim to be. As a result, more legitimate users flow straight through the mobile banking processes with little to no interruptions while fraudsters get stopped in their tracks and forced to turn their focus elsewhere.

Bolstered by this confidence, financial institutions can feel free to expand their mobile offerings and increase their reach into new geographies, as cross-border transactions — traditionally ripe for fraud — pose less of a risk than before.

For those that don’t? Well, their participation in the mobile banking revolution might be over before it even starts.

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