Loading...

Good news if you’re thinking about using knowledge-based authentication

Published: September 12, 2013 by Guest Contributor

If you're looking to implement and deploy a knowledge-based authentication (KBA) solution in your application process for your online and mobile customer acquisition channels – then, I have good news for you!

Here’s some of the upside you’ll see right away:

  • Revenues (remember, the primary activities of your business?) will accelerate up
  • Your B2C acceptance or approval rates will go up thru automation
  • Manual review of customer applications will go down and that translates to a reduction in your business operation costs
  • Products will be sold and shipped faster if you’re in the retail business, so you can recognize the sales revenue or net sales quicker
  • Your customers will appreciate the fact that they can do business in minutes vs. going thru a lengthy application approval process with turnaround times of days to weeks
  • And last but not least, your losses due to fraud will go down

To keep you informed about what’s relevant when choosing a KBA vendor, here’s what separates the good KBA providers from the bad:

  • The underlying data used to create questions should be from multiple data sources and should vary in the type of data, for example credit and non-credit
  • Relying on public record data sources is becoming a risky proposition given recent adoption of various social media websites and various public record websites
  • Have technology that will allow you to create a custom KBA setup that is unique to your business and business customers, and the proven support structure to help you grow your business safely
  • Provide consulting (performance monitoring)and analytical support that will keep you ahead of the fraudsters trying to game your online environment by assuring your KBA tool is performing at optimal levels
  • Solutions that can easily interface with multiple systems, and assist from a customer experience perspective.

How are your peers in the following 3 industries doing at adopting a KBA strategy to help grow and protect their businesses?

E-commerce

  • 21% use KBA today and are satisfied with the results*
  • 13% have KBA on roadmap and the list is growing fast*

Healthcare

  • 20% use dynamic KBA*

Financial Institutions

  • 30% combination of dynamic & static KBA*
  • 20% dynamic KBA*

What are the typical uses of KBA?*

  • Call center
  • Web / mobile verification
  • Enrollment
  • ID verification
  • Provider authentication
  • Eligibility

*According to a 2012 report on knowledge-based authentication by Aite Group LLC

Knowledge-based authentication, commonly referred to as KBA, is a method of authentication which seeks to prove the identity of someone accessing a service, such as a website. As the name suggests, KBA requires the knowledge of personal information of the individual to grant access to the protected material. There are two types of KBA: "static KBA", which is based on a pre-agreed set of "shared secrets"; and "dynamic KBA", which is based on questions generated from a wider base of personal information.

Subscribe to our blog

Enter your name and email for the latest updates.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Subscribe to our Experian Insights blog

Don't miss out on the latest industry trends and insights!