Incognia launches location-based behavioral biometrics solution to combat mobile fraud

Incognia announced the launch of its location-based behavioral biometrics solution developed to combat rising rates of mobile fraud.

Incognia’s Anti-fraud SDK and APIs enhance identity verification and authentication for banks, fintech and retailers with mobile applications. Working in the background, Incognia builds a unique location fingerprint for each mobile user, without capturing or storing any PII, to create a private digital identity.

In 2019, 93% of all mobile transactions (1.7 billion in total, across 20 countries) were found to be fraudulent. As the volume of mobile transactions continues to grow rapidly with the global mobile payments market reaching $4.7 trillion by 2025, fraudsters remain eager to capitalize.

With fraud techniques continually evolving, existing static solutions such as passwords and knowledge questions are unable to provide users with a private and frictionless experience. Incognia location behavioral biometrics provides a new frictionless weapon for enhanced fraud detection and prevention.

“The phone is the new keyboard for conducting digital transactions; the bad guys know it and they’re after our privacy with the intent to commit fraud,” said Jay Bretzmann, Research Director at IDC.

“Incognia’s Anti-Fraud Solution is the tool mobile banking, fintech, and retail solution developers need to seriously combat mobile fraud and keep users secure. Dynamic, adaptive technology like Incognia’s location behavioral biometrics will help smell the rats and ferret out the attackers before damage is done.”

Incognia’s proprietary location technology uses network signals from GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth along with on-device signals to identify precise location without capturing any PII. By building an anonymous location behavioral pattern, unique for each user, Incognia provides a private identity that is dynamic and adaptive.

Key features of the Incognia Anti-Fraud Mobile SDK include:

• Continuous address verification API: Incognia’s technology continuously validates location information, and can detect and alert for changes in behavior that indicate a change of address (or possible fraudulent activity). Location data is collected by the Incognia SDK which matches device visit history to each address claimed during an account opening.
• Location fingerprint API: Incognia location fingerprint can be used to validate existing account holders, specifically those re-engaging and logging in on a new device, and prevent account takeover fraud while keeping false positives low. The location fingerprint is a behavioral biometric signature based on a user’s unique location behavioral pattern and no two are alike.
• Trusted location API: Incognia compares the user’s current location with their historical location behavior and assigns a risk score based on whether the location can be considered familiar or trusted for this user. This information is used to validate actions such as account login and in-app transactions and flag attempts at account takeover and fraudulent payment.
• Device integrity API: Incognia uses several techniques to validate device integrity. This solution ensures the data quality of Incognia’s continuous Address Verification and Location Fingerprinting solutions. The Incognia SDK scans numerous device attributes, including app and file details, to identify anomalies that may indicate malicious intent. It can detect rooting, as well as other attempts to produce fraudulent data.

These key features combine to deliver anti-fraud solutions for secure onboarding, account takeover prevention and secure payments for clients. Incognia is enabled via an SDK and APIs that work on both Android and iOS devices. Data collected by the SDK is anonymized with hash and encryption techniques.

“The U.S. needs a privacy-first solution to combat mobile fraud,” said Andre Ferraz, CEO and Founder of Incognia. “With the Incognia SDK, our customers can reduce fraud through the use of location behavioral biometrics, provide a secure frictionless experience for their users and above all, protect their users’ privacy.

“By using Incognia, companies will operate more securely at a lower risk while ensuring their customers are protected every step of the way. Our team has the expertise and talent to help the mobile commerce and baking market keep their valued customers secure at all times.”

The new solution comes as Incognia welcomes Paula Skokowski into the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Skokowski brings more than 20 years of experience launching startups, pioneering technology products and scaling companies.

She has worked with top companies including Yubico, Shape Security and Accellion, where she demonstrated leadership in go-to-market strategy, product definition and development, marketing and sales enablement.