Another week goes by and another batch of logins and passwordsis leaked on the Internet. Over the years, the industry hastrained employees and consumers to assume that a password, even acomplex password (how many special characters, capital letters,emoticons, etc., do we need nowadays?) is enough to keep theirsensitive, personal and financial information safe.

It's up to any organization providing an online service toensure the integrity of customer data – including user names andpasswords. So what can be done to protect against compromisedinformation and the resulting aftermath? The answer lies inbehavior: understanding the behavior of users accessing theInternet.

Heightening Security Intelligence. We arein the midst of a shift in this reference frame for Internetsecurity. For years the industry has focused on a single event –the login (username/password) – to determine if someone has theright to access applications and assets online. We need to broadenthat lens to look at everything a user does while they visit awebsite: before, during and after login.

Understanding a user's behavior and comparing it to their pastbehavior or the behavior of the broader population is a powerfultechnique that can detect attacks, identify when a user's accounthas been compromised and a whole lot more. Key to securityintelligence is the ability of organizations to respond to threatsin real-time to better protect against cybercrime.

Managing Mobile. With today's rising tide ofmobile devices and applications, we now have an always-on meetingplace to connect with members, and credit unions are also embracingmobility to simplify the user experience and enable rapid,personalized service at members' fingertips.

Deep visibility into mobile traffic is critical to preventagainst any malicious activity that may occur. With visibility intothe behavioral patterns on mobile platforms, security practitionerswill have the information they need to rapidly identify the threatsfacing today's Web-enabled platforms.

There are precedents that extend far beyond the Internet that wecan learn from, but fundamentally, the fact remains that fraudstershave different online behavior that legitimate customers. Forinstance, casinos use behavioral analysis to detect card counters.Retail stores use behavioral analysis to detect shoplifters. El AlAirlines uses behavioral analysis to detect suspicious individuals– and this doesn't simply stop at the ID check: the bulk of theemployees in Israeli airports are trained to spot behavior that isinconsistent with regular flyers.

So why wouldn't we analyze behavioral patterns of credit unionmembers on their mobile devices to make sure that no maliciousactivity is occurring without their knowledge or the creditunion's?

The reality is that passwords will continue to be compromised,accounts will continue to be hacked, and this will likely becomemore of an issue as web and mobile technology take over.

Monitoring Behavior to Stay Ahead. As recently stated bya well renowned investor, “you don't realize you are in the middleof an inflection point until you are past it.” We are in the middleof an inflection point right now, where cybercriminals are moreinnovative than ever before and the security industry needs to takea leap forward by innovating alongside the bad guys in order tokeep pace and even surpass their advancements.

If an organization is entrusted with user account information,it needs to take the right steps to make sure that the informationreally is protected. The best bet is to assume that attackers willget in. How are you going to identify them, and how are you goingto stop them from doing any damage once they're in?

Organizations need to be able to monitor behavior to determineif anything is happening on either an individual account or anentire website population that is outside of normal behaviorpatterns for that person or population.

Cybercriminals are more innovative than ever before, andsecurity teams around the world need to realize that and not onlylearn to keep pace, but get one step ahead. The future pointstowards analyzing user behavior to understand customers and stopcriminals, and it's time we see more widespread adoption of thisapproach take root.

NickEdwards is vice president of marketing and products at Silver Tail Systems inMenlo Park, Calif.