The world today is in a constant digital transformation resulting in various innovations like artificial intelligence or AI. In truth, people see evidence of AI in many environments, from interactions with virtual assistants to conversations with chatbots.
Accordingly, advancements in conversational artificial intelligence in addition to growing customer demand for better remote customer assistance are some of the reasons why the adoption of chatbots is increasingly becoming prevalent. Intelligent chatbot applications can perform online sales, and technical support conversations via text or text-to-speech.
Many organizations across financial technology or “FinTech” and banking segments, eCommerce providers, and outsourced customer support providers are utilizing chatbots to automate customer interactions which then help save time and money in the process.
But what is a chatbot? A chatbot is an intelligent software application assistant that can communicate with people through text messages and instant messaging online. Chatbots are easily integrated into messaging applications, websites, and voice response systems. They are also one of the most well-known examples of artificial intelligence.
Many companies, including startups, have begun to access chatbots in their workplace to help with automation, cost savings, improve customer service, and gain customer insight. During the COVID-19 pandemic, chatbots helped businesses address the rapid rise in customer requests and scale operations.
Proving the growth of chatbots, the Salesforce State of Service, Fourth Edition, has revealed that the adoption of chatbots among service organizations grew by 67% from 2018 to 2020. But despite the benefits and potential that the chatbots offer, there are security concerns that must be addressed, especially as bad actors target to exploit this technology.
Without robust security, chatbots can be used by criminals as a gateway to infiltrate the network and extract valuable data. For companies that use knowledge-based authentication or KBA to secure their chatbots, it is crucial to know that it is a source of security risks. Enterprises must replace outdated identity verification methods like the KBA with a more secure and effective alternative.
An ideal replacement for KBA is a mobile facial biometric verification as this login method leverages biometric characteristics like facial recognition scans to verify a user’s identity. Biometric characteristics are not easily stolen or bypassed with methods used against KBA and therefore, offer better protection against security threats and guarantee that this technology interact with the true account owner.
Chatbots can be advantageous for many businesses: however, they require robust security to protect the valuable information they manage.
For companies looking to replace knowledge-based authentication, they can rely on an Identity as Service providers like authID. Read this article from authID discussing why businesses must upgrade their chatbot’s IQ through biometrics.