How to enhance user verification through their devices?

Long gone are the days when you had to be physically present to do some shopping, organize your holiday, or even book your hairdresser appointment. Everything in our life has shifted with the increasingly rapid development of the internet. Global pandemic Covid-19 had a major impact on that development as it has forced us to develop some parts of our online life years or even decades before it would happen in normal circumstances. Who would’ve guessed it would be possible for that many businesses to transfer their presence online? Globalvillagespace explains how from school kids, to companies and employees are trying to adapt to work from home resulting in a significant rise of the online shopping industry. Even the companies that had a slim to none online presence had to learn to adapt and accept technological advancement. 

 

And all of this has been made possible by our devices. Mobile phones, laptops, desk computers, or tablets have become the door to our new world. But this amazing new electronic world comes with few downsides. Most of our private and sensitive data are stored on our devices making us more vulnerable than ever against cyber-attacks. Online frauds have always been present, but now more than ever we need to be aware of all the risks our online presence brings. 

 

According to SEON device fingerprinting usage can be an indispensable tool for verifying different devices and gathering additional information about their users. This is important because cybercriminals are always going ahead with the times, which means we have to invest more effort to stay one step ahead of them. Our first line of defense is always user verification, which will be elaborated on.

 

What is User Verification?

User verification in the simplest terms means exactly what it says, it is a process used to verify the user or to confirm that the person who is attempting to gain the access to the network is who they say they are. Protecting your business and especially your users from fraud needs to be a priority of any business as the users are essential to the success of any business. It doesn’t matter how great your business is, without users that won’t matter. Everything starts with trust. Users need to know that you can protect their sensitive and confidential data. If you lose their trust, you will lose them also. Most of the companies don’t believe the cyber-attack will happen to them, but did you know that  Cybintsolution stated that 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses. User verification is the first step you need to take to make sure your users are protected from social engineering attacks. But this can always be improved. 

How to enhance user verification through their devices?

One of the best ways of enhancing user verification through their devices is by using the process called device fingerprinting. Digiday defines device fingerprinting as a way to combine certain attributes of a device, such as what operating system it is on, what type and version of web browser is being used, the browser’s language settings and the device’s IP address – and because of that it identifies it as a unique device. All of these attributes that are collected create hundreds of different variables which is what makes your device unique. For example, someone can have the same device and operating system that you have, but those people won’t have the same time zone or the language setting as you do. Think of it in terms of cars. Somebody might have a blue Ford Focus as you do, but they won’t have the blue Ford Focus with a Groot bumper sticker over the left taillight and plush dice hanging over the rearview mirror.

Device fingerprinting can be used to stop fraudsters from attempting to hack, break into, or spam websites as well as offer detailed insights into any customer that’s coming onto your website. It is really useful in stopping fraud before it even happens as the system will recognize that the user trying to login in is not the user they are claiming to be because of the differences in their device fingerprint. It will then either block the user from any further actions or demand another step in verification which increases the security aspect. 

Tech giant Amazon is also known to use device fingerprinting to ensure the safety of its users. If there is a difference in your device fingerprint when you are trying to log in, it will block your access until you verify your identity through a 2-step verification process in Amazon. And it is not the only one, a big number of businesses and institutions are using device fingerprinting in their fight against cybercriminals. But even though device fingerprinting is a great way to enhance user verification it shouldn’t be taken for granted. To keep your users and your business safe you will need to use it with other cyber-security methods.