Many hackers employ a tactic called credential stuffing, whereby they test stolen usernames and passwords on as many online services as possible. The massive volume of stolen credentials on the web in general throws fuel on the fire. Malware such as keyloggers (which track keystrokes), and trojans that can perform screen capture of online login pages are other common avenues for credential theft. Fake web pages and email messages claiming to be from legitimate financial institutions often trick users into unknowingly handing over sensitive information that can be used in b anking fraud. H acker have used phishi ng scams to pilfer passwords and payment card data with astonishing success. Security first: how biometri cs are more secure than passwords, PINs, and payments cardsīiometrics have several distinct advantages over knowledge-based methods such as passwords and PINs, as well as possession-based tokens like traditional bank cards. In fact, a future in which biometrics supplant passwords, PINs, and even physical payment cards as a primary banking mechanism may not be very far off. This is because fingerprint, face, and voice-recognition technologies are much better suited to greater security and convenience for the growing number of channels involved in modern b anking-in-person, ATM, online, smartphone, over the phone, chatbot, etc. To mitigate these losses, banks, credit unions, and other financial services firms are shifting their focus away from traditional authentication (P INs, passwords, and magnetic stripes), and toward biometric technology. Today, banking fraud costs financial institutions and their customers billions of dollars each year. This was a small taste of what was to come. In 1968, only a year after release, proto-hackers from Sweden stole an authentication token and used it to withdraw large sums of money from various ATMs. Both revealed a big shortcoming: “there was no way to really ensure that the user of the toke n was actually the holder of the account,” Smithsonian wrote. An early competitor used magnetic-stripe cards.
Originally, Barclays used PINs to secure their ATMs. Barclays was taken with the idea, and erected the world’s first ATM on June 19 67 at a branch in Enfield, a suburb just outside of London. He wanted to create a “cash vending machine” that would stay open when his bank was closed. The pioneering ATM was envisioned by a printing engineer named John Shepherd-Barron, according to Smithsonian. Going as far back as the earliest automatic teller systems (ATMs), security and convenience were often at odds. The goal today is to let customers manage their money intuitively and on their terms, while keeping it safe from fraudsters, hackers, and other bad actors. From ‘security or convenience’ to ‘security and convenience’įinancial institutions have taken great strides over the course of decades to make banking more secure and convenient.