Actionable intelligence, anomalous patterns, 3rd platform transformation, readied response, mobile proliferation – just some of the thematic vernacular that characterized the hundreds of presentations, break-out sessions, and labs that filled the halls of McCormick Place in Chicago during RSA Charge. The excitement from partners and customers was infectious. Kicked off by a hip-hop violinist with staggering on-stage energy, RSA’s VP of Unified Products shared a thought provoking prediction from Singularity Hub in accordance with Moore’s Law; in 2025, you will be able to purchase a computer for $1,000, that has the computing power of the human brain – 10,000 trillion cycles per second. The AI train is well on its way – ROOMBA is a dinosaur in the making. While GRC attendees filled halls, biometrics took center stage and caused an exciting buzz in the anti-fraud arena.
While you may have stayed seated in the Oculus Rift augmented-reality malware-destruction stations, an hour on the Evolution of Cybercrime Trends proved to be one of the more popular breakout sessions. The head of the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Center detailed a timeline that encompassed the likes of early day phishing kits to crimeware-as-a-service models. Staggering statistics from RSA showcased that mobile traffic has grown 60% year over year and mobile fraud has grown 80%. You no longer need to both procure a kit and have the skills to initiate your malicious attack campaign. While kits are still for sale alongside rentable bots, skilled criminals providing their expertise in snackable class formats abound. Vast amounts of stolen credit cards continue to be spewed across the cybercrime underworld. Just as EMV chip cards are here to save the day, the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Center has identified EMV card scamming software kits already popping up for sale in Spanish cybercrime forums. As we all settle in to chip-and-pin cards causing longer wait times in store lines this holiday season and cashiers attempting to master the new POS, prepare yourself for more selfies in the future.
Credit Card and Smart Phone
When is the last time you had the vasculature in the whites of your eyes imaged to check the balance of your savings account? If you’re accustomed to challenge questions and SMS texts with one time passcodes, smile, because you’ll soon be seeing eye-vein verification as a new biometric offering integrated into the authentication process. All eyes have unique patterns of blood vessels, and the cameras built into most smartphones far surpass the necessary 2-3 megapixels to properly identify a user. Selfies will be yet another authentication step-up option, and you needn’t worry about a few drinks prior to logging in, as the veins of the sclera don’t change with age, redness or alcohol consumption. About 100 characteristics taken from your eye vein recognition will serve as a secure, encrypted template and reside locally on the phone. While Biometrics has been talked about in the past, we’ve finally hit a perfect inflection point where general consumer technology plays right into the ease and security of embedded biometrics. Generation Z is embracing the Biometrics – are you?
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