Authentication

Airbnb, the company that disrupted the hospitality industry as Uber did to taxis, is sidling up to the fintech space.

Blockchain technology could power the digital identity of the future, with banks serving as designated authenticators on behalf of their customers.

Ryan Singer, CEO of startup Blockchain Health, explains how blockchain, multisignature and device ID technologies could give consumers greater control over their personal information — in this case, medical data — in the second part of a three-part conversation.Part I: 'Everyone Is Less Secure Over Time'

The ability to program value exchanges without risk of censorship, moderation or theft gives smart contracts a leg up in servicing users who lack a mainstream banking association.

The U.K. bank's new business unit takes advantage of the massive amount of data it stores to offer a new array of products and services, including managing customers' digital identities.

Banks have to know a lot about their customers, who generally trust them to keep personal information secure. Who better to serve as digital identity providers in a post-password world?

Though the use of a digital identity may take years to go mainstream with consumers, BBVA Compass is thinking about the role that banks should play and taking steps toward being part of the solution.

Ryan Singer, CEO and cofounder of startup Blockchain Health, discusses the problems with the traditional "shared secrets" method of verifying identities, and the possibilities opened up by mobile computing devices.

The way we verify people are who they say they are must evolve to reflect new technologies like peer-to-peer platforms and the Internet of Things and the ways millennials live and work.

Around the world, technology companies, governments and even some banks are coming up with new, safer and easier ways for people to prove they are who they say they are. Generally the goal is to allow people to be authenticated once by a trusted identity provider (a role banks could play) rather than share sensitive information with countless third parties, as they do today. Here we highlight just a few of the many organizations innovating in this space.

BMO Financial Group is looking to bring a recent consumer-facing innovation to its corporate customers.

Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, is set to buy the assets of Jumio in bankruptcy proceedings of the startup focused on online identity verification.

In explaining the bank's commitment to the Chase Pay mobile wallet, an executive told investors in February that the mobile payment landscape was going to get more complicated before it gets simpler.

With tighter security in the online and mobile channels, fraudsters are turning their attention to vulnerable contact centers, conning eager-to-please phone service reps into coughing up customer information or letting them reset passwords on other people’s accounts.

The precedent set in the ongoing battle between Apple and the FBI over custom access to a device in question opens up unsettling risks on privacy and security.

Security veterans Frank Abagnale and Ori Eisen have teamed up on a heavy-duty authentication service with no pretensions of being easy to use. Their venture, Trusona, just raised $8 million.

Despite the rise of digital banking, most people still look to physical channels when opening accounts. That's partly due to consumer preference, but banks have a long way to go to make the digital sales experience smooth.

Orrstown Bank launched several innovative Web initiatives in 2015, including a SMS two-way texting platform and a Zillow-like feature that displays housing listings on its Web presence.

Bank of America announced Thursday that it customers can now suspend their debit cards temporarily; it is the first of several new features the bank has planned for 2016 after it tripled its digital banking budget.

Biometrics are seen as the future of authentication, but some customers hesitate to ditch old ways. Picking the most practical pain points — like authenticating over the phone — is banks' best bet to win converts, observers say.