Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 25 | Page 19

TRENDING “The use of biometric technology is now on the rise.” P lease enter your password, it says. It seems like a simple enough task, but with the increasing number of devices we have and accounts we subscribe to, it becomes an onerous request. We’ve all been there. After exhausting a list of half a dozen alphanumeric codes and potentially a security question about what our favourite childhood sport was, we reluctantly reset our passwords hoping we will remember it the next time around. Password fatigue is an all-too-common inconvenience. And beyond a simple annoyance, recent technological advancements mean that traditional passwords are no longer as secure as they once were. Since the advent of the Internet and digital banking, there has been a rapid evolution in the way banks authenticate their users, as more seamless and secure strong authentication methods have been introduced. Initially, the typical reusable static passwords seemed sufficient enough to secure and validate online transactions. However, as fraudsters have become more advanced, it has become clear that this is inadequate to maintain secure online payment. Reusable passwords can be easily guessed, stolen or accidentally disclosed. “By leveraging unique behaviour that is second- nature to the user, it makes it virtually impossible to be emulated by fraudsters.” This issue is particularly significant since each day, we hear of another story of data breach resulting in identity fraud or online hacking, highlighting the ever-increasing sophistication of fraudsters. The question is, how can banks increase online security without compromising user convenience? In a country like the UAE, with some of the highest internet penetration in the world, users expect their banks to be at the forefront of technological innovation to ensure a seamless digital banking experience. As a result, the country has a high level of online banking usage, which is expected to increase over the years. Gemalto recently conducted an e-banking study, which polled 900 global IT and business decision-makers from the banking sector and 11,000 consumers across 14 markets. The study revealed that almost three quarters of UAE consumers use online and mobile banking. Despite the rise in digital banking in the region, our study also showed that almost half of UAE consumers think that there www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 19