Join the Community

22,963

Expert opinions

43,845

Total members

402

New members (last 30 days)

172

New opinions (last 30 days)

28,975

Total comments

Join Sign in

Stripping away the comfort blanket

07 February 2007 Be the first to comment

Paul Penrose

Head of Research

Finextra

Researchers from Harvard and MIT have questioned the effectiveness of site image authentication technologies. The technique, pioneered by RSA subsidiary PassMark Security, relies on the exchange of personalised digital images between customer and bank Web site in advance of password entry.

In the study, only three per cent of users chose not to log-in when their secure images failed to flash up. Furthermore, over half (53%) entered passwords when a bank's log-in page was replaced with a warning page.

This latter stat suggests that consumers may be placing too much faith in the ability of new authentication techniques to protect them from cyber-fraud, and disregarding other warning signs.

There's a diffficult lesson for the banking industry here. The reassurance offered by the introduction of new log-in procedures and authentication technologies is welcome, but it should not be oversold. By all means provide a security blanket; just ensure that it doesn't become a comfort blanket.

External

This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.

3067

Report

Channels

/security /retail banking

Comments: (0)

Paul Penrose

Head of Research

Finextra

Member since

06 Oct 2006

Location

London

More expert opinions

Dominic Mensah Director Strategic Accounts at Lakeside Software