A recent survey, conducted by two-factor authentication provider Swivel Secure, found some 74.2% of business owners keep a written log or have another type of offline system to record passwords.

In questioning 2,500 working Americans on their Internet security habits, the study suggests “a culture of carelessness amongst U.S. business owners that is jeopardizing company security and inviting cyber crime.”

While far-reaching data breaches that compromise consumer information for retailers and financial institutions continue to make headlines, it appears U.S. business owners are nonplussed with the news. The survey also revealed that 63% business owners continually re-use the same passwords to log in to different systems, yet 61% remain ‘unconcerned’ with the security of their corporate systems.

Such apathy towards even the most basic organizational security mechanisms is, of course, an opportunity for authentication security vendors, such as Swivel Secure, to market their wares. Fraser Thome, VP with Swivel Secure, stated in the release, “By continuing to rely on this outdated form of authentication, U.S. business owners are undermining their investment in firewalls and other costly network security measures and leaving themselves dangerously exposed to cybercrime.”

Opus Research has long chronicled authentication techniques that go beyond passwords, specifically looking at strategies for phone-based security, fraud prevention and mobile banking authentication. For example, when combined with the utterance of a password, voice biometrics can achieve multi-factor authentication and provide a level of security that mitigates the risks associated with cyber data breaches.

[Note: Opus Research is currently conducting a business-focused survey to understand industry perceptions, strategies and current technologies used by enterprises for customer authentication and fraud reduction. If you are involved with voice security and authentication at your organization, we invite you to participate in a short online survey. Responses are completely anonymous and results will be shared in a report “Voice Security and Authentication: Factors Effecting Demand” to be published in Q4 2014.]

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Authentication, Articles

Tags: authentication, Opus Research, identity management, multi-factor authentication