Robert Griffin, CEO of MIRACL, has urged betting leadership to move beyond its out-dated assumption that passwords can be considered as an effective security measure protecting customers.

Presenting a case study at the SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital, Griffin detailed that betting operators are still “gambling with passwords” which have become an obsolete security tool, no longer protecting player data and further hindering vital components related to CX and customer engagement.

Griffin broke it down to various key promises regarding the presence of passwords, firstly underlining that they have a significant impact on revenue. This is due to causing user frustration and adding friction to the customer journey, eventually causing operators to either lose players or miss player bets.

He also explained that due to the fact that 70% of users re-use the same password for many services, hackers have purchased on the dark web previously cracked databases from large breaches on LinkedIn, Facebook, Yahoo and many more.

Sophisticated hackers are therefore using automated server ‘bots’ that are firing 100 authentication requests per second at operators with the result that services can no longer be confident that the user accessing the account is the actual authorised customer. This makes compliance with the regulator next to impossible along with fraud prevention.

It comes as the importance of security has grown, due to the 400% increase in phishing and hacking attacks that has been brought on by COVID-19.