Adjustment of knowledge-based authentication

• US 9,633,322 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Consumerinfo.com Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Original Assignee: Consumerinfo.com Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Burger, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Amber A
• Application Number:
  US14/208,595
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for adjustment of difficulty level, quantity, and/or other parameters of knowledge-based authentication. The questions may be asked of a consumer based on one or more generated risk scores associated with the consumer'"'"'s behavior, which may be derived from information received from the consumer, a representative responsible for entering information regarding the consumer, and/or from the consumer'"'"'s computing device.

Claims

1. A computer system for setting authentication requirements for a consumer associated with a consumer computing device, the computing system comprising:

a consumer computing device through which financial account information of a consumer is accessible;

an authentication server in communication with a plurality of electronic devices to provide authentication of users of respective electronic devices;

a financial services server in communication with the consumer computing device, the financial services server storing information regarding financial accounts issued to respective consumers by a financial service provider;

wherein the financial services server executes software instructions to;

receive, from the consumer computing device via the Internet, a request to open a new financial account with the financial service provider;

transmit device identification information gathering code to the consumer computing device, the device identification information gathering code comprising one or more of device-aware parameter-submitting code, browser information gathering code, or device information gathering code;

receive device identification information associated with the consumer computing device gathered through the device identification information gathering code, the device identification information comprising one or more of;

device ID,

device location,

browser type,

browser time zone,

browser language settings,

proxy settings,

stated IP address, or

real IP address; and

transmit, to the authentication server, a request to set authentication requirements for the consumer and information allowing the authentication server to communicate with the consumer computing device;

wherein the authentication server;

receives, from the financial services server via the Internet, the request to set authentication requirements for the consumer in response to the request transmitted from the consumer computing device to open the new financial account and device identification information associated with the consumer computing device, wherein an identity of the consumer is unknown to the financial service provider;

determines a real geolocation of the consumer computing device based on one or more of current GPS data or historical GPS data from the consumer computing device;

derives one or more behaviors of the consumer based on at least the device identification information, the one or more behaviors comprising one or more of;

a comparison between a masked geolocation indicating a location of a proxy server through which the device identification information is received and the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device, or

a comparison between the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device and a browser geolocation indicated by a browser executing on the consumer computing device;

calculates a fraud risk score of the consumer based at least on the one or more derived behaviors of the consumer, wherein respective derived behaviors indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to increase and respective derived behaviors not indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to decrease;

determines authentication requirements for the consumer based on the calculated fraud risk score, wherein the authentication requirements indicate one or more of;

a number of authentication questions the consumer is required to correctly answer,

types of authentication questions the consumer is required to answer, or

a percentage of authentication questions that must be correctly answered;

transmits one or more authentication questions to the consumer computing device in accordance with the determined authentication requirements, and receives corresponding responses from the consumer computing device;

determines, based on the authentication requirements for the consumer and the responses from the consumer computing device, whether the consumer is authenticated; and

transmits, to the financial service server, an indication of whether the consumer is authenticated.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the fraud risk score comprises a risk level.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the fraud risk score comprises a risk factor.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the request to open a new financial account for a consumer is received from a consumer.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the request to open a new financial account for a consumer is received from a service provider.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more behaviors of the consumer is derived based on one or more of:

a frequency of attempts to open a new financial account;

whether requests for a new financial account for a same consumer originate from more than one computing device;

whether the consumer computing device has a device IP address that matches a known IP address associated with a high fraud risk score;

or

whether a submitted password matches a unique password known to be related to a high fraud risk score.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the financial services server further executes software instructions to:

embed instructions to collect the device identification information; and

process information collected from the embedded instructions.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the authentication server further:

upon a determination that the consumer has a fraud risk score above a first threshold, requests the consumer to provide information comprising at least one of;

address, password, birthday, social security number;

records the information about the consumer and the device identification information;

upon a determination that more information needs to be collected from the consumer, requests the consumer to provide information; and

upon a determination that more information does not need to be collected from the consumer, generates an error message to the consumer.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the authentication server further:

upon a determination that a total number of authentication attempts exceeds a first threshold, sends an alert to a victim of authentication fraud, the alert comprising information regarding the total number of authentication attempts; and

upon a determination that the total number of authentication attempts exceeds a second threshold, temporarily locks the account of the victim of authentication fraud.

10. A system comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium for the financial services server comprising computer-executable instructions that direct the financial services server to;

store information regarding financial accounts issued to respective consumers by a financial service provider;

receive, from a consumer computing device via the Internet, a request to open a new financial account with the financial service provider;

transmit device identification information gathering code to the consumer computing device, the device identification information gathering code comprising one or more of device-aware parameter-submitting code, browser information gathering code, or device information gathering code;

receive device identification information associated with the consumer computing device gathered through the device identification information gathering code, the device identification information comprising one or more of;

device ID,

device location,

browser type,

browser time zone,

browser language settings,

proxy settings,

stated IP address, or

real IP address; and

transmit, to the authentication server, a request to set authentication requirements for the consumer and information allowing the authentication server to communicate with the consumer computing device;

a computer-readable storage medium for the authentication server comprises computer-executable instructions that direct the authentication server to;

receive, from the financial services server via the Internet, the request to set authentication requirements for the consumer in response to the request transmitted from the consumer computing device to open the new financial account and device identification information associated with the consumer computing device, wherein an identity of the consumer is unknown to the financial service provider;

determine a real geolocation of the consumer computing device based on one or more of current GPS data or historical GPS data from the consumer computing device;

derive one or more behaviors of the consumer based on at least the device identification information, the one or more behaviors comprising one or more of;

a comparison between a masked geolocation indicating a location of a proxy server through which the device identification information is received and the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device, or

a comparison between the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device and a browser geolocation indicated by a browser executing on the consumer computing device;

calculate a fraud risk score of the consumer based at least on the one or more derived behaviors of the consumer, wherein respective derived behaviors indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to increase and respective derived behaviors not indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to decrease;

determine authentication requirements for the consumer based on the calculated fraud risk score, wherein the authentication requirements indicate one or more of;

a number of authentication questions the consumer is required to correctly answer,

types of authentication questions the consumer is required to answer, or

a percentage of authentication questions that must be correctly answered;

transmit one or more authentication questions to the consumer computing device in accordance with the determined authentication requirements, and receives corresponding responses from the consumer computing device;

determine, based on the authentication requirements for the consumer and the responses from the consumer computing device, whether the consumer is authenticated; and

transmit, to the financial service server, an indication of whether the consumer is authenticated.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 10, wherein the fraud risk score comprises a risk level.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 10, wherein the fraud risk score comprises a risk factor.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 10, wherein the executable instructions on the computer-readable storage medium for the authentication server further direct the authentication server to:

upon a determination that the fraud risk score associated with the consumer exceeds a first threshold, increase difficulty of questions the consumer is required to correctly answer.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 10, wherein the executable instructions on the computer-readable storage medium for the authentication server further direct the authentication server to:

upon a determination that the fraud risk score associated with the consumer exceeds a second threshold, deny the request from the consumer to open the new financial account.

15. A computer-implemented method of setting authentication requirements for a consumer associated with a consumer computing device, the method comprising:

at a financial services server in communication with a consumer computing device, the financial services server storing information regarding financial accounts issued to respective consumers by a financial service provider, wherein financial account information of a consumer is accessible through the consumer computing device;

receiving, from the consumer computing device via the Internet, a request to open a new financial account with the financial service provider;

transmitting device identification information gathering code to the consumer computing device, the device identification information gathering code comprising one or more of device-aware parameter-submitting code, browser information gathering code, or device information gathering code;

receiving device identification information associated with the consumer computing device gathered through the device identification information gathering code, the device identification information comprising one or more of;

device ID,

device location,

browser type,

browser time zone,

browser language settings,

proxy settings,

stated IP address, or

real IP address; and

transmitting, to an authentication server, a request to set authentication requirements for the consumer and information allowing the authentication server to communicate with the consumer computing device;

at the authentication server, the authentication server in communication with a plurality of electronic devices to provide authentication of users of respective electronic devices;

receiving, from the financial services server via the Internet, the request to set authentication requirements for the consumer in response to the request transmitted from the consumer computing device to open the new financial account and device identification information associated with the consumer computing device, wherein an identity of the consumer is unknown to the financial service provider;

determining a real geolocation of the consumer computing device based on one or more of current GPS data or historical GPS data from the consumer computing device;

deriving one or more behaviors of the consumer based on at least the device identification information, the one or more behaviors comprising one or more of;

a comparison between a masked geolocation indicating a location of a proxy server through which the device identification information is received and the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device, or

a comparison between the determined real geolocation of the consumer computing device and a browser geolocation indicated by a browser executing on the consumer computing device;

calculating a fraud risk score of the consumer based on at least the one or more derived behaviors of the consumer, wherein respective derived behaviors indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to increase and respective derived behaviors not indicative of potential fraud cause the fraud risk score to decrease;

determining authentication requirements for the consumer based on the calculated fraud risk score, wherein the authentication requirements indicate one or more of;

a number of authentication questions the consumer is required to correctly answer,

types of authentication questions the consumer is required to answer, or

a percentage of authentication questions that must be correctly answered;

transmitting one or more authentication questions to the consumer computing device in accordance with the determined authentication requirements, and receiving corresponding responses from the consumer computing device;

determining, based on the authentication requirements for the consumer and the responses from the consumer computing device, whether the consumer is authenticated; and

transmitting, to the financial service server, an indication of whether the consumer is authenticated.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprising, at the authentication server:

upon an indication that the fraud risk score associated with the consumer exceeds a first threshold, recording the one or more behaviors of the consumer and the device identification information of the consumer;

matching, in a consumer information data store, any record that matches the one or more behaviors of the consumer and/or the device identification information of the consumer;

calculating a fraud risk score associated with the matched record.