86% are very or somewhat concerned about the misuse of their personal information by businesses – huge market demand that your business could answer with the right mobile authentication setup.
Ten years ago, consumers weren’t very well informed about data privacy. In the past decade, though, this has very much changed.
We’ve seen data leaks and cyberattacks happen time and time again, and often, these leaks include so much data that just about anyone’s sensitive data has appeared in at least one of these. When was the last time you checked HaveIBeenPwned?
With that, it makes perfect sense that consumers now place great value in data privacy and businesses that go their way to respect it. To illustrate, did you know that 83% of consumers would like more control of their data?
Having worked in mobile authentication over the last five years, I thought this was a great opportunity to bring up an issue that’s not nearly as talked about as it should be: data privacy in the context of mobile authentication.
Now, your mind very likely went to mobile authentication solutions that demand you use your sensitive data: your social security number or an ID scan or even biometrics. And with good reason – while you can always change your password, the same can’t be said for your social security number, ID or your fingerprints.
This thinking is reflected in the study on attitudes towards biometric authentication from the University of Texas in Austin where 86% of participants said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the misuse of their personal information by businesses.
That’s a huge portion of the population, and that’s a huge market demand that your business could answer. Depending on the type of business you’re in and the way in which you guard your user’s data privacy, you can turn this into one of your biggest competitive advantages and become the leader in your industry.
To effectively discuss the specifics, let’s first start by analyzing the current mobile authentication landscape and data privacy.
Mobile Authentication Landscape & Data Privacy
The value of different authentication solutions fall into three categories: security, user experience, and data privacy. But because the concept of having both high security and a frictionless user experience is so challenging to many, data privacy is unfortunately frequently taken out of this discussion altogether.
To start with, passwords or SMS OTP don’t fare really well in the security category. On top of that, the user experience isn’t that great either.
Because of this, the industry had come up with third party authenticator app 2FA which sits on a whole other level of security. However, this solution underdelivers in the user experience category even further.
And then we have biometrics that come with a stellar user experience. Whether fingerprint or Face ID, it takes barely a second to verify your identity and gain access to a service. In addition, biometric authentication ranks among the best performers as far as security goes.
When we have the first two basics covered, what about data privacy?
As previously mentioned, biometric authentication comes with certain data privacy issues and have long been a source of concern for the consumer. And who does data privacy the best?
A serious contender for the triptych of great security, frictionless user experience, and data privacy, is the new-ish mobile IP address-based authentication.
Mobile IP address-based authentication solutions verify users in milliseconds without sharing their data to any other party, including the solution provider, except the mobile operator who already possesses this data – thus removing any extra privacy risks.
So, how would this all come together in practice? Which solutions should you go for, and how can you enable highest security, a seamless user experience AND data privacy?
It may sound like Mission Impossible, but read to the end and you’ll feel like Tom Cruise.
Ensuring Bank-Grade Security without Hindering Data Privacy
As previously noted, while biometrics comes with stellar user experience, certain data privacy questions have to be raised. But does that mean that you shouldn’t use biometric authentication?
No! You just have to implement it in a smart way. And that’s where multi-factor authentication comes into the picture.
A multi-factor authentication system contains two or more authentication factors that users have to fill out in order to verify their identities. Not only is it the most secure authentication system you can implement, but it best fulfills its potential when you design it in such a way that different authentication factors cover for each other’s weaknesses.
We’ve seen that mobile IP address-based solutions champion data privacy in authentication. If you were to implement biometrics along with a mobile IP-address based solution, you could design your system in a way that ensures no data is placed at risk.
At the same time, you’d be able to claim maximum security and a frictionless user experience, and cater to the users’ needs and wants, seriously boosting your business in the process.
