With that in mind, let's take a look at some common strong authentication measures that can impact user experience:

2Factor Authentication and Multi-factor Authentication: 2FA and MFA systems require users to present two or more pieces of evidence in addition to their password when attempting to login. While they are certainly beneficial from a security standpoint, from a member experience perspective, most users prefer not to use MFA. Google has stated that less than 10% of its users have opted to turn on MFA.
Adaptive Authentication: Adaptive authentication cross-references IP address, geolocation, device reputation and other behaviors to assign a risk score to an inbound login and step up factors accordingly. These systems are typically tuned aggressively to increase effectiveness, which means that additional authentication steps are added in situations that don't warrant them. As a result, adaptive authentication often frustrates customers and users.
Biometric Authentication: This approach is appealing from a pure member experience standpoint, however, the singular use of biometric authentication is impractical as all technologies and devices are not currently equipped with biometric capabilities. In addition, these systems still rely on a fallback password-based authentication mechanism when the biometric fails or becomes unavailable.

In the financial services sector, there are certainly instances in which the friction introduced by the above approaches is appreciated by the customer or member as a sign of the institution's commitment to security. For example, a member checking his or her balance for the first time on a new computer expects to answer security questions or input a security code received via text when attempting to transfer funds from one account to another.

Instant Insights /

Striking the Right Balance Between Security Considerations & the User Experience

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