Innovation isn’t just for the bad guys. The good guys are innovating too. That is why it was a great honor to be recognized by KuppingerCole as an Overall Leader in their recent Leadership Compass for Fraud Reduction Intelligence Platforms. In addition, BioCatch was cited for its leadership in the areas of innovation and product.

Innovation has been in our DNA since the company’s founding in 2011, and we have made it our mission to work closely with our customers to be the first to address emerging threats as fraud evolves. Examples of recent innovations include:

• Social engineering fraud. When UK banks came under increasing attack by authorized push payment fraud, a type of social engineering voice scam, we worked with our customers to find ways to identify these schemes through the use of digital behavior analysis. Taking what we know about digital behavior based on clicks, swipes, and typing patterns and human psychology, BioCatch has developed risk models that are producing highly accurate detection capabilities to uncover advanced social engineering scams.
• Mule accounts detection. While mule accounts are not new, their proliferation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many banks to re-evaluate their mitigation strategies. Cybercriminals seeking to exploit government stimulus programs and cash in on economic impact payments and unemployment benefits led to an avalanche of account opening fraud. According to BioCatch research, high-risk applications for new accounts have exploded from a standard rate of 0.5% to between 10% and 50%. BioCatch has been working with customers in the UK and Asia on this issue and demonstrating high success rates in detecting mule accounts. The U.S. has been hit particularly hard by stimulus fraud, and we continue to work with our customers to prevent mule accounts from being opened for this purpose.
• Protecting vulnerable populations. One large card issuer sought a way to better protect senior citizens from fraud and identity theft after finding that 40% of confirmed fraudulent credit card applications had a declared age over 60. This aligns with reported data that shows seniors are disproportionately targeted by cybercriminals and their average loss is often significantly higher than other age groups. Working in conjunction with the issuer, BioCatch identified several behavioral patterns that shift with age, such as the time required to shift from the Control key to a letter key during data input, mouse click duration, mobile device orientation preferences, and swipe events. Leveraging these insights, BioCatch is able to predicts a user’s approximate behavioral age which can be compared to a declared age on the application. In the event of a discrepancy, the BioCatch risk score will be impacted accordingly.

Another emerging use case BioCatch is exploring with some customers where behavioral insights have demonstrated strong results is business email compromise (BEC). While these attacks are highly targeted against fewer victims, the losses are often far more substantial. According to the FBI, BEC fraud accounted for $1.8 billion in losses in the US in 2020. As with social engineering voice scams and authorized push payment, BEC fraud is difficult to detect, because a genuine user who is unaware of being scammed conducts the transaction or payment. By analyzing digital behavior patterns, BioCatch identifies changes in the user’s emotional state, such as hesitation or confusion, by how the user interacts with the banking application in initiating a payment or transfer. BioCatch looks for flags such as high overall idleness of the mouse, keys, and clicks, and lengthy pauses in typing.

This is only the tip of the iceberg in innovation for behavioral biometrics technology, and the possibilities go well beyond fraud detection. Behavioral biometrics are also being introduced to reduce friction in the digital journey and create better customer experiences

There is a reason we say every swipe tells a story – or two, or three, or four.

Need a useful guide to help your organization select the right fraud prevention solution? Access the KuppingerCole Leadership Compass for Fraud Reduction Intelligence Platforms to gain an independent review of fraud prevention solutions across several categories and help you make the right decision to meet your business requirements.