August 09, 2024
Anonybit Team
Integrating Privacy by Design With User Credential Management & Account Recovery
Privacy by Design has become vital, especially in biometric authentication techniques. Imagine the frustration of not being able to access your account because you can’t remember your password or don’t have your phone handy. This article helps to understand Privacy by Design principles as they apply to biometrics and provides a framework on how to implement them within account recovery and user credential management.
Anonybit’s identity management platform solution offers ways to understand privacy by design principles and implement them within account recovery and user credential management, ensuring your data stays secure and accessible.
What Is Privacy by Design?
Privacy by Design (PbD) is an approach that aims to holistically embed privacy into the earliest phase of the development lifecycle of technology and policies. In other words, when you begin developing a new product, system, or process that involves handling personal information, privacy should be at the forefront of your plan and baked into the design from day one. PbD is a vital aspect of developing secure and privacy-conscious biometric authentication techniques.
The Seven Principles by Ann Cavoukian
In the 1990s, Ann Cavoukian, former information and privacy commissioner for the province of Ontario, developed the Seven Principles of Privacy by Design to enable organizations to implement privacy into their technologies, practices, and procedures.
These principles continue to influence privacy regulations and frameworks worldwide, shaping discussions about Privacy by Design to the present day. Concepts of Privacy by Design have been incorporated into data protection regulations worldwide, such as Article 25 in the GDPR, which discusses data protection by design and default.
Protecting User Privacy in Biometric Authentication
The primary goal of Privacy by Design is to protect the privacy of individuals and service users. By incorporating PbD principles into developing biometric authentication techniques, organizations can ensure that personal information is handled securely and that individuals have control over their data.
Building Trust and Preventing Breaches
Privacy by Design plays a crucial role in biometric authentication techniques, where personal data such as fingerprints, facial scans, and voice prints are utilized for user identification. By embedding privacy protection mechanisms into the design of biometric systems, organizations can build trust with users and prevent privacy breaches. By addressing privacy concerns from the start, organizations can avoid costly retrofits and regain user trust lost due to data breaches.
Related Reading
- Biometric Identity Theft
- Biometric Data Security
- Can Biometrics Be Hacked
- Privacy Issues With Biometrics
- Advantages Of Biometrics
- Biometric Privacy Laws
- Biometric Authentication Advantages And Disadvantages
- Biometric Authentication
- Multi Factor Authentication Using Biometrics
Implementing Privacy by Design In Credential Management
Account recovery for forgotten passwords or lost credentials is essential in identity management but poses significant privacy and security risks if not managed correctly. Account takeovers (ATOs) are occuring with increasing frequency, as hackers exploit high-friction or low-assurance workflows to bypass even robust authentication mechanisms.
Beyond OTPs
Implementing self-service models with alternative authentication or automated identity verification is crucial to prevent social engineering attacks and enhance security. While weaker methods like one-time passwords (OTPs) via SMS or email may still be used, they should be phased out as soon as possible.
Decentralized Biometric Authentication for Secure Account
Using alternative authentication factors like biometrics reduces reliance on authenticators that can be phished or stolen, increasing security and providing significant assurance in account recovery scenarios. If user authentication isn’t possible, reverting back to identity verification (IDV) using document and selfie verification is necessary.
To this end, Anonybit can be an ideal solution for account recovery and user credential management due to its emphasis on security and user experience. Traditional methods like SMS, voice, and email-delivered OTPs, as well as security questions, are susceptible to social engineering attacks. Anonybit’s decentralized biometric authentication provides higher security by leveraging:
- State of the art NIST tested biometric algorithms
- Built-in liveness detection
- Easy to implement APIs for simple integration into existing workflows
Beyond Knowledge-Based Verification
Legacy methods like knowledge-based verification should be limited to low-risk scenarios. Personal attestation (having a manager or other employee vouch for the user) can be a middle ground but has scalability and social engineering issues. Automated identity verification solutions like biometrics should be used in higher-risk scenarios to ensure a proper level of assurance.
Enhancing Security and Privacy in Account Verification
At Anonybit, our decentralized biometrics system design helps companies prevent data breaches and account takeover fraud. With a decentralized biometrics solution, companies can enable passwordless login, wire verification, step-up authentication, and help desk authentication. We are on a mission to protect companies from data breaches, account takeovers, and synthetic identity fraud.
To achieve this goal, we offer security solutions such as:
- Secure storage of biometrics and PII data
- Support for the entire user lifecycle
- 1:1 biometric authentication and 1:N biometric matching to prevent duplicates, synthetics and blocklisted identities
Anonybit eliminates the tradeoffs between privacy and security. Prevent data breaches, enable strong authentication to eliminate account takeovers, and enhance the user experience across the enterprise using Anonybit.
Book a free demo today to learn more about our integrated identity management platform.
What Are The Available Options For Account Recovery?
1. Legacy Authentication and Verification Methods for Account Resets
SMS-delivered OTP (One-Time Password)
SMS OTPs (one-time passwords) offer convenience but lack security. SIM swapping and message interception makes them vulnerable. Mitigating factors include combining them with device recognition and biometric authentication to create a multi-layered security approach.
Voice-delivered OTP
Like SMS, voice-delivered one-time passwords (OTPs) are vulnerable to SIM swapping and voicemail hacks. While voice biometrics can add a layer of security, these methods still pose risks. Consider combining them with device recognition for better protection.
Email-delivered OTP
Email OTPs are risky because compromised email accounts can be used to steal the password. To be safer, again, best practices is to combine them with device recognition and biometric authentication to verify the identity of the person.
Security Questions
Security questions are easily guessable, making them a weak way to protect your account. These should be phased out completely.
OTP App
OTP apps like Google Authenticator are more secure than SMS or email OTPs. The codes are generated on your phone and are not sent over potentially risky networks. However, a stolen phone or compromised app could expose them. The codes also can be phished out of someone who is under the influence of an attacker.
Mobile Push (App)
Mobile push authentication sends a notification to your phone for approval, adding security. A stolen phone or malicious apps could be risky. This is similar to SMS and has similar vulnerabilities as an OTP App.
2. Next Generation Authentication Methods for Account Recovery
FIDO2 Hardware Security Tokens
FIDO2 hardware tokens are super secure login tools. They’re almost impossible to hack because the biometric stored on the device never leaves the key. However, managing the devices can be problematic. First, if the person loses or forgets the hardware token, they may not be able to transact. Second, they can be costly to replace and still require assignment to a person which can make them vulnerable to an account takeover if the account recovery process is not completely secure.
Biometric Authentication (Fingerprints, Faces, Voice)
Fingerprint, facial scan, palm or voice recognition (biometrics) are secure ways to log in because they’re unique to you. But if they are not implemented with the requisite liveness detection features, they might be fooled or if they are not collected, stored or managed properly, they may raise privacy concerns.
Biometric-Based Multi Factor Authentication
Multifactor authentication enhances security by combining multiple factors to verify a user’s identity. These factors typically include:
- Something the user knows (knowledge factor)
- Something the user has (possession factor)
- Something the user is (inherence factor)
By requiring more than one type of authentication factor, MFA significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access because compromising multiple factors is much more challenging for attackers.
An effective MFA system uses the inherence factor in addition to one of the other factors to create a robust security mechanism.
For instance, a user might be required to verify their identity with a facial scan (inherence factor) as well as:
- Enter a password (knowledge factor)
- Or an OTP app on their phone (possession factor)
Each factor independently verifies the user’s identity, creating multiple layers of defense. This makes it much harder for attackers to gain access since they must compromise multiple authentication methods and including a high-performing biometric provides a 99.9% level of assurance that a person is who they claim to be.
Related Reading
- Biometric Authentication Methods
- Biometric Data Privacy
- Biometric Data Breach
- Biometric Spoofing
- Device Based Verification
- How Is Biometric Data Stored
- Biometrics In Healthcare
- Biometric Authentication Banking
- Biometric Data GDPR
Prioritizing Privacy And Security In Account Recovery: Balancing Assurance And User Experience
Consider Alternative Authentication Modes
One effective way to establish trust in identity for account modifications is to use alternative authentication modes and compensating controls. Weak authentication methods like SMS or email-delivered OTPs can be easily exploited, making them unsuitable for managing higher-trust authentication tokens.
For instance, biometrics can enhance security in employee and customer use cases. This technology can be utilized in an automated IVR system or during a voice call with an agent. Recognizing signals for help desk calls can include phone number verification to detect spoofing and identify the phone owner. Automated biometric authentication, such as Anonybit, offers high identity assurance without relying on weak authentication factors.
Users must provide a biometrically verified selfie, ensuring liveliness. While this method is not yet widely adopted due to lack of established biometric records, it has seen increased interest among organizations seeking a high level of assurance, particularly in combating threats like employee account takeover.
If the biometric fails, a more extensive process may be necessary to ensure the required level of trust.
Book A Free Demo To Learn More About Our Integrated Identity Management Platform
At Anonybit, we help companies prevent data breaches and account takeover fraud with our decentralized biometrics technology. With our decentralized biometrics framework, companies can enable passwordless login, wire verification, step-up authentication, help desk authentication, and more.
Comprehensive Security Solutions for Companies
We aim to protect companies from data breaches, account takeovers and synthetic identity on the rise, privacy regulations, and digital transformation. To achieve this goal, we offer security solutions such as:
- Secure storage of biometrics and PII data
- Support for the entire user lifecycle
- 1:1 authentication and 1:N matching for lookups and deduplication
Balancing Privacy and Security with Anonybit’s Integrated Platform
Anonybit eliminates the tradeoffs between privacy and security. Prevent data breaches, reduce account takeover fraud, and enhance the user experience across the enterprise using Anonybit. Book a free demo today to learn more about our integrated identity management platform.