Assessing the Attacks Against the Online Authentication Methods Using a Comparison Matrix: A Case of Online Banking

This paper aims to examine commonly existing online authentication methods, review the current authentication threats and attacks against these methods, and discuss and analyze the methods used in banks operating in several countries. The paper established a new comparison matrix with 11 characteristics of authentication methods. The discussion and analysis section are based on the data collected by sending a questionnaire to more than 25 people in several countries. The data is captured through observation while navigating the targeted banks' internet banking services from the user's perspective who has the privilege (credentials) to access banks' online services. A total of 16 international banks were analyzed in this research. This research shows that authentication methods such as security questions, smart cards, PINs, and virtual keyboards will provide strong authentication to protect customers' data confidentiality and integrity. The results contribute to the practice by confirming the importance of having strong authentication methods to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the customer's data. The particularity of our study helps to identify the common authentication methods used in banks operating in different countries.