Banks told to adopt stronger authentication

The vast majority of banking customers would like to see financial institutions adopt stronger forms of authentication. They would also like to see banks monitor accounts more proactively looking for irregular activity.

These are the findings of research from RSA Security, which surveyed consumers about their attitudes towards online banking and their fears about fraud and security.

In total 73 per cent of respondents said they want their banks to deploy stronger authentication.

However, while supporting stronger authentication, Chris Young, senior vice president and general manager of RSA Cyota Consumer Solutions, said it is important that greater security does not mean services are more difficult to use.

The majority of respondents favoured risk-based authentication - a more passive, back-end system which cross references multiple factors, such as IP address, transaction behaviour and log-on location to establish what level of risk is attached to that user session.

Many banks are also beginning to deploy two-factor authentication, such as that rolled out at Lloyds TSB last year, and announced recently by the Alliance and Leicester, which adds an extra level of security beyond username and password.

Fourty-three per cent of respondents said they would welcome such a system if the banks footed the bill for the hardware tokens.

On the issue of monitoring, Young added: "Consumers seem to feel comfortable with the notion of their financial institution monitoring their online activity and contacting them when something suspicious is detected, just as they have become accustomed to for years in the credit card space."

Even more impressive was the support for banks monitoring account activity more closely: 89 per cent of respondents said they would be in favour of such a measure, in order to more quickly recognise irregular trends which could indicate fraud is being committed.

Concerns over phishing have clearly taken their toll on the trust users place in email. The survey found that 79 per cent are unlikely to respond to a banking related email. In 2004 that figure was 70 per cent.