LATAM Financial Institutions Tap Behavioral Biometrics Leader, BioCatch, to Strengthen Regional Cybersecurity and Combat Homegrown Fraud

USA - English

• Latin America - español
• Brazil - Português

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCatch, the global leader in behavioral biometrics, announced today that it has expanded its reach in Latin America (LATAM) by partnering with seven tier-one banks based in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico to protect them against rising cyberattacks in the region. The company is showcasing its solution to prevent new account fraud and account takeover at the annual CELAES financial services security conference taking place in Miami this week.

With frequent online/mobile bank account takeover, remote access attacks, overlay/man-in-the-browser malware and social engineering specifically aimed at the region, it is evident that the traditional approach of managing online identity and preventing fraud is not effective. Through implementing its behavioral biometrics technology in the seven LATAM banks, BioCatch seeks to enable secure online experiences in a region where, according to a recent poll done in cooperation with Stanford Business, 70% of banks considered other banks with better digital capabilities as the main threat.

"Banks in Latin America face significant challenges coming from data breaches, mobile malware, banking Trojans and other cybercrime threats that are more often than not, homegrown. Solutions like BioCatch's behavioral biometrics technology helps us to manage these threats while enabling a good user experience online, which is very important for us to compete in today's economy. We have experienced first-hand the significant return on investment that BioCatch provides and this comes from not only catching the fraud that traditional solutions miss, but from reducing the operational costs and lost customer revenue that comes from too much disruption in the digital channel," said Rodrigo Colossi, IT Superintendent of Brazil's Itau Unibanco.

BioCatch's technology validates users by who they are via their interactions with an online application, rather than by what they know (e.g., passwords or security questions). At its core, the system analyzes more than 2,000 behavioral profiling metrics during a session to differentiate a genuine user from a human imposter, bot or malware. Once a user logs onto an online session, the system is able to recognize if the session has been hijacked, generating a risk score that is used by the bank to determine whether to reject a transaction or escalate for further authentication. The technology is increasingly being used more broadly to help manage digital identity across the banking ecosystem, from digital onboarding to authentication and continuous fraud prevention inside an online session. In Latin America alone, BioCatch works with seven top-tier banks, covering over 25 million online and mobile users that collectively process 300 million transactions a month. The company's unparalleled approach has also continued to gain industry recognition, including being named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 list.

"While the demands of VIP customers and millennials are driving digital transformation efforts around the world, Latin America, with one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world, is experiencing unique pressures to figure out the balance between security and the user experience," says Oren Kedem, Vice President of Latin America for BioCatch. "Latin America is different than other regions in that fraud rates are very high and the vast majority of cybersecurity attacks originate in the region as opposed to being launched from other parts of the world. Fraudsters in Latin America deploy targeted attacks in a homegrown fashion that are not seen elsewhere, which is challenging for traditional cybersecurity providers to keep up with. This cat and mouse game ends with BioCatch technology, which is not reliant on known strains of cyberattacks or other static measures of authentication. We are pleased to be playing a key role in shaping next generation digital banking solutions in the region by providing a new paradigm for identity management and fraud prevention."

About BioCatch
BioCatch is a digital identity company that delivers behavioral biometrics analyzing human-device interactions to protect users and data. Banks and other enterprises use BioCatch to significantly reduce online fraud and protect against a variety of cyber threats, without compromising the user experience. With an unparalleled patent portfolio and deployments at major financial institutions and global enterprises around the world that cover 70 million users to date, BioCatch has established itself as the industry leader. For more information, please visit www.biocatch.com.

SOURCE BioCatch