Passwords plus biometrics
It may be time to jump into fingerprints and voice recognition for securing mobile banking.
by: Robb Gaynor
Security is paramount when defining a digital strategy for both mobile banking and Internet banking. And, until recently, passwords have been king.
Passwords are an expeditious way to allow users to establish their identities—to prove they truly should have access to whatever it is they want to access. Passwords are a reality for every adult as almost everything has a password. But remembering the password for a great number of accounts can be a real pain and, at the same time, not so secure as one would like.
The literature is abundant on how strikingly easy passwords are to guess, in part because people often choose similar passwords. So wisely, regulators have for a decade asked financial institutions to use multi-factor authentication before letting someone into an online or mobile banking account. That means using a password plus some additional form of proving one’s identity.
Enter biometrics. While a password is something you know, biometrics authenticate you based on “who you are.” And some of this technology is now arriving. The most popular forms of biometrics that seem to have reached viability to the point where credit unions can implement them are fingerprint and voice recognition.
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