Call Centers Move Away From KBA With MFA Solutions

Call centers are starting to move away from KBA as new technologies emerge. The number of facilities looking for alternatives has doubled since 2018, with 17 percent utilizing MFA to better protect against fraud. The need for newer, stringent authentication comes as call centers — especially those for banks and other financial services — are getting hit with increasingly sophisticated fraud. A recent survey found that 51 percent of financial service professionals believe that phone channels see the greatest number of ATO attempts.

The healthcare industry is also busy fending off fraudsters in its contact centers, especially as seniors face an increase in phishing attempts and robocalls. Fraud protection is thus a high priority for all call centers, regardless of their industries. Call center leaders know this, as shown by the 91 percent who cited it as important.

Consumers are losing faith in passwords, PINs and similar KBA verification methods, but they also refuse to sacrifice speed and convenience for greater security — quick and easy user enrollment remains a top priority for that same 91 percent of call center industry leaders. Many call centers are looking to marry passwords and PINs with tools like biometrics because of this. Solutions like these rely more on who customers are rather than what they know. Users’ voices, how they hold their phones or type and their fingerprints are all factors call centers are examining for more secure authentication.

Call centers must maintain the ease of use customers have come to expect, while still protecting them from fraudsters. Implementing biometric verification in tandem with other tools could help call centers looking to move away from KBA. What is most notable about these newer authentication methods is that they do not always rely on the customers themselves. They instead work on the back end to ensure customers actually are who they say they are.