Adaptive Authentication Path for Fraud Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Financial institutions face a tradeoff between authentication security and user convenience, as excessive authentication challenges inconvenience legitimate customers while insufficient challenges fail to prevent fraudulent transactions effectively.
Innovation Solution
Introducing pseudo-random variations in authentication paths, including the content, sequence, and number of challenges, to dynamically adapt to each transaction, making it harder for fraudsters to succeed without increasing inconvenience for legitimate users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If more authentication challenges are presented to increase security, then fraud prevention capability is improved, but user convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system dynamically adjusts the number and type of challenges based on transaction risk assessment. Low-risk transactions receive fewer challenges while high-risk transactions receive more challenges, making the system adaptive rather than static. This resolves the contradiction by making security requirements flexible rather than fixed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters such as the number of challenges, challenge types, and verification methods based on the assessed risk level of each transaction. This allows the system to optimize between security and convenience by adjusting parameters rather than using a fixed authentication path for all transactions.
2Reliability
If authentication paths are made longer with more challenges, then security level is improved, but transaction processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically determines authentication path length based on real-time risk assessment of each transaction. This prevents unnecessary time loss for low-risk transactions while maintaining strong security for high-risk transactions, resolving the time-security tradeoff.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial authentication (fewer challenges) for low-risk transactions and excessive authentication (more challenges) only when necessary for high-risk transactions. This avoids the time cost of full authentication for routine transactions while maintaining security when needed.
3Reliability
If arbitrary challenge questions are used for authentication, then fraud prevention is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a universal set of challenge questions that can be applied across different transaction types and risk levels. This multi-functional approach reduces complexity by avoiding the need for transaction-specific authentication methods while maintaining effective fraud prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than creating complex custom authentication paths for different scenarios, the system changes parameters of a standardized challenge set (number of questions, specific questions selected, verification method) to handle different transaction types, reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes: receiving an indication that a user has requested to perform an activity requiring authorization; generating an authentication path for presentation to the user, the authentication path comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion of the authentication path comprising at least one first authentication challenge, the second portion of the authentication path comprising at least one second authentication challenge and being presented to the user after a first valid response to the at least one first authentication challenge has been provided; determining that the user provided a second valid response to the second portion of the authentication path; and, responsive to determining that the user provided the second valid response to the second portion of the authentication path, authorizing, by the one or more processors, the user to perform the activity requiring authorization.