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The future of payment security: Digital identities and more ethical artificial intelligence

During the state of emergency and, in general, the restrictive measures introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, Internet shopping increased between 50 % to 300 %, depending on the part of the world. In June last year, retail sites recorded almost 6 million more visits compared to the period of only a few months, i.e. compared to January of the same year - from 16.07 to 22 million visits. Even after the lift of lockdown, which happened in most countries over the summer of 2020, most traders kept the increase, some even by about 100 %, compared to the same period last year.

The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation and acceptance of innovative payment methods but also affected the dramatic jump in online fraud. The number of phishing attacks in the world has increased up to 400 %. As, due to the crisis caused by the pandemic, cybersecurity becomes a very important topic for companies around the world, the company Visa presented predictions about the development of payment security in the next 10 years. The goal is to make it easier for consumers to accept the transformation and get acquainted with the trends, and for retailers to prepare for challenges but also for new business opportunities.

Biometrics will eradicate passwords

Entering passwords and one-time codes, which are considered traditional solutions to identification when paying online, logically became the main target of cyberattacks. One solution for consumers is to turn to more secure methods of authentication, such as face recognition, fingerprinting, or voice. European Union standards imply multiple layers of consumer verification in digital transactions. It is predicted that biometrics as innovative authentication approaches will become the standard by many financial institutions and companies from Europe to the US.

Already, 770 million biometric authentication applications are downloaded annually, and the most modern ones can provide identification of a three-dimensional facial model, recognition of vein arrangement, analysis of DNA structure, and detection of odors and specific chemical properties of skin for each person.

The significant role of artificial intelligence

Chatbots, recommended products, Internet browsers, security platforms… Artificial intelligence is all around us. It is expected that AI will continue to encourage new products and services in payments and have a significant impact on society. However, this prediction comes with a warning due to the possible misuse of smart machines.

The main challenge for industries that use AI will be to demand greater responsibility from the authors of algorithms for the production of smart machines that are able to create ethically sound decisions.

The weakest link in the data protection chain - human factor

Cybercriminals who use social engineering as a technique of attack will continue to exploit the vulnerability of consumers and manipulate their emotions in order to find out confidential information.

According to an analysis published by Kaspersky, the most common targets of data theft hackers are Facebook and WhatsApp. Between April and September, there were as many as 4.5 million phishing attempts on Facebook and about 3.7 million on WhatsApp. Such exposure to direct attacks will continue to be the weakest point in the defense of sensitive data.

Adoption of more advanced protection systems

Precisely for the above reason, retailers will be motivated to adopt even more advanced protection systems and enable consumers to make worry-free purchases. A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in the coming years will change the way of doing business and implement innovative methods and technologies that protect customer data. And not only e-commerce sites but also online bookmakers have to think of protecting the data of their customers. Especially nowadays when bettors mostly bet online, depositing and withdrawing their money via credit cards and digital payment platforms. These platforms compete with each other in quality, finding their places on specialized websites that rate bookmakers according to the availability of payment methods, so there are best PayPal bookmakers, best Payeer betting sites, best Visa bookies, etc.

Speaking of the latter, the world leader in digital payments Visa recently introduced the Visa Secure program, which enables merchants to provide their consumers with even better protection against abuse. It is an authentication system for real-time transaction estimation, so additional verification of the cardholder is rarely required. If there is anything suspicious, such as the use of a new device or an unusually large purchase, there is the option of additional verification to confirm the identity. In this way, online shopping becomes even safer as the program ensures that the transaction was made by the real, actual owner of the Visa card.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes

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