Dive Brief:

• One in four banks globally are challenged with the identification of their customers when delivering digital and online banking services, according to a new report from Kaspersky Lab.

• Banks are finding it difficult to verify customers' identity at the same time that more organizations are struggling with cybersecurity. Lack of proper verification only contributes to banks' growing concerns over financial losses from fraud, which 59% of banks say will increase over the next three years. 

• In 2016, 30% of banks had security incidents affecting banking services delivered via the internet, the report found. Phishing scams and using customer credentials for fraudulent activities were the top methods used in the attacks.

Dive Insight:

Banks are under fire from cybercriminals, who are doing everything they can to break into their networks and customer accounts. Verifying customer identity is a critical part of preventing unauthorized actions and protecting customers.

More banks are reporting serious attempted cyber breaches and many of those attacks are successfully gleaning information, according to a recent report from Accenture. 

But banks are also wary of asking customers to jump through too many hoops in order to conduct business online. A simple yet secure approach can go a long way to making customers happy and improving retention. Banks should look to implement platforms that offers protections at login and through the session, without asking for extra steps from customers, according to the report.