Malaysians keen on biometrics as they struggle with banking passwords

By Edil Corneille

Global analytics software firm – FICO, has found a notable percentage of Malaysians not taking the necessary precautions to protect their passwords and logins when banking online, according to the San Jose-based company’s Consumer Digital Banking Survey.

Only 46 per cent are using separate passwords to access multiple accounts whereas 22 per cent have between 2 to 5 passwords they reuse across accounts. The study found that 14 per cent use a single password across all accounts! 36 per cent of Malaysians use just 1 to 5 passwords across all their accounts.

Additionally, 23 per cent of respondents use an encrypted password manager — which many consider as the best practice, while 22 per cent adopted risky approaches to recall passwords, such as writing them in pen and paper.

“As consumers’ reliance on online services grows in response to COVID-19, criminals are preying on this, targeting consumers with malicious activities such as phishing and social engineering,” said Subhashish Bose, FICO’s lead for fraud, security and compliance in Asia Pacific. “With Malaysia’s movement control order, many Malaysians are only able to access their finances digitally, so it’s essential to stay vigilant and take the time to adopt security best practices.”

43 per cent of the respondents of the study reported abandoning an online purchase because they forgot their login information. 78 per cent of Malaysians are happy to provide their bank with a biometric.

“Digital services are now an important part of our lives, it’s very important for consumers to protect themselves from online scams and fraud,” said Bose. “Malaysians have the highest adoption of one-time passcodes by SMS out of all ten countries surveyed, but they are also willing to adopt additional biometrics to secure their accounts. Financial institutions and Malaysian consumers have shown they are ready to adopt more secure authentication technologies in an effort to stay protected from fraudsters online.”

The use of fingerprints was the most widely accepted approach (79 per cent), facial scans came second (38 per cent) and eye scans last (27 per cent), according to the study. A more popular alternative with Malaysians was the analysis of how they type their password (74 per cent), a technique which is known as behavioural biometrics.