What is Behavioral Biometrics Authentication? Use Cases, Benefits

What is behavioral
biometrics authentication?

While physiological biometrics rely on physical features to prove identity, such as fingerprint, facial, or retina scans — behavioral biometrics analyze how a human behaves. It takes into account the unique way each user interacts with their device, how they type and move their mouse, how they hold their phone, and more.

Imagine your username and password were part of a major breach, and someone is trying to use your credentials to do “a little” credential surfing. Behavioral biometrics authentication secures accounts because it uses behavioral characteristics which are unique to each of us to verify the identity of anyone attempting to log in.

Simply put, behavioral biometrics authentication looks at a user's behavioral data to help verify whether the person attempting to access an account is who they claim to be. Because behavioral characteristics are difficult to replicate consistently, they can provide an additional layer of identity verification.

Types of behavioral biometrics

Types of behavioral biometrics include kinesthetics, which refers to a person’s body motion, voice patterns, mouse movements, and typing biometrics. With just a keyboard, typing biometrics can verify a user's identity based on how they type.

Typing biometrics

Also known as keystroke dynamics, typing biometrics works by comparing a person's typing patterns to help authenticate their identity.
Mouse

Mouse dynamics analyze characteristics of how a user moves and interacts with a mouse or trackpad.
Signature analysis

Signature analysis is one of the oldest forms of behavior analysis in the world and represents a person’s trademark.
Voice recognition

Voice recognition relies on the idea that behavioral signals emitted by our voices can be used to authenticate us.
Gait analysis

Gait analysis is a form of kinesthetics that refers to the way a person walks and uses device sensors to pick up on and analyze behavioral signals.

Behavioral biometrics by
the way you type

TypingDNA uses typing biometrics to verify users based on their unique typing style. It works with standard keyboards across devices and can operate quietly in the background, helping create a seamless authentication experience.

Typing biometrics can add identity verification without dedicated biometric hardware or unnecessary interruptions to the user experience.

Use cases for behavioral biometrics authentication

Large enterprises in ecommerce, banking & finance, education, and government can use behavioral biometrics
to strengthen authentication, continuous session security, and fraud prevention while maintaining a seamless user experience.
Here are two of our products, check out the Products menu for more.

Continuous endpoint authentication

Traditional authentication verifies users at login, but a device may remain accessible for hours afterward. Behavioral biometrics can continuously verify the authorized user throughout the session and help detect unauthorized endpoint access.

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2FA without phones:
Just type 4 words!

Organizations need seamless authentication that protects accounts without creating unnecessary friction. Verify 2FA provides phone-free two-factor authentication based on how users type a short phrase.

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Advantages of behavioral biometrics authentication

Behavioral biometrics can strengthen authentication without requiring dedicated biometric hardware. By working in the background, it can help verify users and detect unauthorized access while maintaining a seamless user experience.

User-friendly

Because behavioral biometrics can work passively in the background, they can support continuous and two-factor authentication without adding unnecessary friction.
Tough to spoof

Behavioral patterns are difficult to capture and reproduce consistently, adding resistance against impersonation and automated attacks.
Privacy by design

TypingDNA behavioral biometrics solutions are built with privacy by design and analyze how users type, not what they type.
No external hardware

Behavioral biometrics leverage existing hardware like a keyboard and mouse, avoiding expensive sensors or biometric scanners to authenticate users.