The Top Mobile Authentication Method Revealed

Online and mobile commerce continue to be beset by issues relating to authentication, despite a variety of exciting solutions on the market. With so many options, how can businesses ensure they are selecting a technology that protects their assets, their customers and the online and mobile ecosystems at large? A new infographic breaks down the issues associated with device fingerprinting, two-factor authentication and more to reveal the best way to authenticate.

More than 50 percent of U.S. consumers still worry about the security of their data during online purchases, recent polls show, and for good reason. A newly released infographic from Payfone illustrates how, despite new security solutions on the market – RSA tokens, device fingerprinting, SMS – Internet security issues persist that not only make consumers vulnerable to fraud, but increase friction.

To begin, the infographic provides a fresh perspective on just how pervasive online and mobile fraud remain by highlighting key figures. Each year businesses lose $200 billion due to fraud, while 500 million consumers fall victim to identity theft, Payfone notes.

“The web has no sense of identity in its core plumbing,” Payfone said in the infographic. “Yet, despite all of this friction and complexity, we are less secure.”

To help banks, online and mobile commerce providers and enterprise businesses select authentication solutions that enable a more secure online ecosystem, Payfone breaks down the variety of available authentication methods in its “Guide To Mobile Authentication” to reveal the technology that will have the biggest impact on reducing fraud and friction if widely deployed.

Username / Passwords

Long the hallmark of Internet security, Payfone says these security solutions have been rendered ineffective over time. Passwords are difficult to remember, expensive to manage and recover and have been proven to be vulnerable to data breaches and other forms of attack, Payfone indicates.

Further, additional research shows even effective passwords can be limited in their effectiveness as they are still vulnerable to keystroke-logging software and other forms of attack.

Cookie / Device Fingerprinting

Device fingerprinting is the process by which devices and individual users are authenticated through unique browser settings. These include available fonts, software versions or other properties that many distinguish one device from others.

While the authentication method has been linked to mitigating denial-of-service attacks and fraud, Payfone suggests this characterization might not be correct. This form of authentication include was cited as being vulnerable to theft and copy, subject to browser performances and prone to a lack of continuity.

RSA Tokens, OOB and SMS

Two-factor authentication solutions have also emerged as a popular way to reduce friction, though Payfone also found faults with these solutions. Popular examples include RSA token generators – which produce new tokens at regular intervals for users to connect to a network; out-of-band authentication, which uses an alternative channel of communication to verify a user; and SMS authentication via text.

The infographic cites all of these technologies as expensive to deploy and manage, easy to lose and frustrating for users.

For more insights into the limitations of these authentication methods, as well as the reasons why SIM technology is the best authentication method for the fight against friction, download Payfone’s full infographic here.