Sift Logo Several blue dots forming a sphere to the left of the word Sift in italic font.
  • Products

    Digital Trust & Safety Suite

    Fight fraud without sacrificing growth

    Learn more →

    Passwordless
    Authentication

    Account
    Defense

    Content
    Integrity

    Payment
    Protection

    Dispute
    Management

    Sift
    Connect

    PSD2
    Solution

    New Releases & Enhancements

  • Partners

    Sift Partner
    Program

    Join the leader in Digital Trust & Safety

    Learn more →

    Commerce platform partners


  • Industries

    One solution, many applications

    Learn how Sift can work for your industry

    Learn more →

    Featured industries


    Fintech

    Retail

    Food & Beverage

  • Customers

    See case studies by industry

    Sift works across every use case and region

    Learn more →

    Featured customers


  • Resources

    Explore our resources

    Access trends, guides, and insights from Sift

    Learn more →

    Blog

    Ebooks

    One Pagers

    Demos

    Videos

    Webinars

    Infographics

    Podcasts

    Trust & Safety University

  • Fraud Center
  • Company

    Why leaders choose Sift

    Technology, community, and partnership

    Learn more →

    Our mission: Help everyone trust the internet


    About

    Careers

    News & Press

Request a demo
Products
  • Digital Trust & Safety Suite
  • Passwordless Authentication
  • Account Defense
  • Content Integrity
  • Payment Protection
  • Dispute Management
  • Sift Connect
  • PSD2 Solution
  • New Releases & Enchancements
Why Sift
  • Salesforce
  • Magento
  • Shopify
Industries
  • Fintech
  • Retail
  • Food & Beverage
Customers
Resources
  • Blog
  • Ebooks
  • One Pagers
  • Demos
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
  • Trust and Safety University
Fraud Center
About
  • Search Careers
  • Our Company
  • Contact Us
  • Engineering Blog
Request a DemoSign In
  • Blog Home
  • Digital Trust & Safety
  • Insights
< prev / next >
Share this article on LinkedIn
Tweet this article
Share this article on Facebook
SOCIALICON
Share this article via email

The Art & Science of Dynamic Friction: Powering Protection and Growth at Scale

By Arwen Heredia  / 

21 Oct 2019

Mention “airport security” to the modern jet-setter, and frustrated groans are likely to be the response. Even with the knowledge that this slow, clunky process of getting through a mile-long lineup is for the protection of everyone traveling, most flyers still wish it was done differently.

Because the process doesn’t discriminate (or discriminates against everyone, depending on your perspective), every individual goes through the same initial level of scrutiny – a static set of steps to pass through, even if they’ve flown a hundred times before without issue. Take this approach to security into the digital landscape, and the very same inefficiency is true of traditional, rules-based fraud prevention solutions. They’re the TSA of Trust & Safety, and businesses can bet that forcing people through these inflexible hoops is just as discouraging for users as a trip to the airport. 

The big difference? People still have to get on the plane–they don’t have to use your products and services.

The breakdown of trust (and what to do about it)

In a recent webinar with Digital Transactions and Gusto, Sift Trust & Safety Architect, Kevin Lee, covers this exact problem. He notes that while 99% of users on a website are legitimate, there still needs to be protection from the ~1% of users that are attempting abuse. But in the past few decades, businesses that wanted to keep up were forced to rapidly adapt their infrastructure for the e-commerce world – something they were, and are still, largely unprepared to do effectively. Brick-and-mortar security doesn’t translate to digital; an attempt to mimic it led to set-and-forget systems built around fixed rules.

But coupled with an increase in the complexity, size, scope, and sophistication of fraud attacks over just the past five years, today’s prevention and mitigation won’t work if it can’t acclimate. It has to be simple, flexible, fast, and comprehensive. It’s no longer enough to focus security efforts on payment protection alone; companies have to consider several types of payment abuse, as well as account takeover (ATO), fake content, spam, and scams. Give a fraudster a loophole, and they’ll gladly (and quickly) exploit it. 

All of these subcategories of fraudulent behavior lead to an erosion of trust on all sides. Buyers don’t know which merchants or even fellow users to trust; merchants don’t know which users are legitimate and which are nefarious. Brands lose business based on perception and reputation, and when they put protective rules in place, stymie their own growth and lose revenue as a result of multi-layered authentication that users have no patience for. 

It’s for this reason that forward-thinking businesses are implementing a Digital Trust & Safety approach that enables Dynamic Friction. This real-time fraud prevention strategy uses machine learning to apply friction (such as multi-factor authentication) only when it’s actually necessary, allowing users a speedier, more tailored experience based on their actual risk potential.

It’s time for businesses to break the rules

With Dynamic Friction, risk level is assessed in real time so that merchants can offer safe, convenient, and customized user journeys that only become more accurate and appropriate over time.

dynamic friction dt

For businesses, this means scalable growth and security that never forces them to treat valid users like criminals, puts a hard stop to ATO and payment abuse, and gives them an opportunity to be part of making the internet a better place for everyone. To dive deeper into the conversation, watch the full webinar.

Find out how you can apply Sift’s Dynamic Friction to your fraud prevention strategy, grow your business, and drive customer loyalty with our new ebook, Dynamic Friction: Delivering the Right Experiences at the Right Time.

Related

authenticationdigital transactionsDigital Trust and Safetydynamic frictionfraudfraud managementfraud preventionGustopaymentsriskrisk operationssecuritySifttrust and safetyverification

Arwen Heredia

Arwen Heredia is Sift's Sr. Content Marketing Manager. She's a life-long writer, mom of girls, baker, bookworm, and dancer. You will know her by the trail of bobby pins.

  • < prev
  • Blog Home
  • next >
Company
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • News & Press
  • Partner with us
  • Blog
Support
  • Help Center
  • Contact Support
  • System Status
  • Trust & Safety University
  • Fraud Management
Developers
  • Overview
  • APIs
  • Client Libraries
  • Integration Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Engineering Blog
Social

Don't miss a thing

Our newsletter delivers industry trends, insights, and more.

You're on the list.

You can unsubscribe at any time. Please see our Website Privacy Notice.

If you are using a screen reader and are having problems using this website, please email support@sift.com for assistance.

© 2022 Sift All Rights Reserved Privacy & Terms

Your information will be used to contact you about our service and subscribe you to our direct marketing communications. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time. Please see our Website Privacy Notice.