Because various people and companies are embracing chatbots, there has been a rise in their popularity. According to research conducted by oracle, about 80% of companies want to have a chatbot. Although they are helpful and fun to interact with, we should not lose sight of the security behind any chatbot. This is true at this moment as banks and other financial institutions have adopted the use of chatbots.
By 2022, 90% of banks will automate related interactions with customers. Most companies had chatbot automation by the end of last year. It has led to the use of AI in marketing that the use of chatbots has facilitated. Therefore, it is crucial to implement chatbot security measures to protect your business of thebestvpn.
A backdoor that hackers can exploit
Today we use chatbots in various sectors like retail, financial services, banking, and travel. Such industries handle vital data like social security numbers, debit/credit cards, bank accounts, and other sensitive personally identifiable information (PII). As posted earlier, cybercriminals can exploit any vulnerability within a system and compromise it wholly. According to the MIT Technology Review, 90% of the companies are already employing artificial intelligence strategies to increase their revenues.
HTTPS protocol for chatbot security
The basis and the default setting for an excellent security system is HTTPS protocol. Data transfer through HTTP is encrypted and secured using secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS). Therefore, chatbots must have such schemes implemented for secure communication.
Types of security issues
Vulnerabilities
These are the loopholes in a system that an attacker exploits to compromise a system, and you cannot identify and solve it correctly on time. They may arise from poor coding, laxity in security, or human errors. Implementing the security development life cycle (SDL) in the development and deployment is probably the best way to solve the issues touching on vulnerabilities.
Threats
Threats are the various methods through which an attacker can compromise or exploit a system. Such incidents include; information disclosure, repudiation, tampering, spoofing, denial of service (DOS), account takeover, the elevation of privileges, and various other threats.
Chatbots Security Essential Measures You Need To Consider
Below are the essential security measures to consider for chatbots.
Authorization and authentication
Authentication happens when there is a need to verify the identity of a user. It is common in chatbots that engage users in critical sectors like banking, insurance, and health. A chatbot requests a user to enter their identifying credentials like usernames, emails, and passwords. They then generate an authentication token that checks the credentials against the ones stored in the database. If the two match, the generated secure authentication token and authenticates the user.
The other security measure related to authentication and authorization is using authentication timeout. In this technique, the generated secure authentication token is only valid for a certain period. If this period lapses, the user has to start the entire process again.
You can also implement multi-factor authentication on chatbots. Through this method, you can ask a user to verify an email or receive a one-time password (OTP) on their phone through an SMS.
It is essential that before a chatbot interacts with a user, it ensures that we authenticate such a user before authorizing access to a service.
Biometrics/ personal scan
Since various institutions work with personal data, it is crucial to take security precautions and measures. You should implement the use of biometrics to authenticate users in chatbots to add another layer of security. Today use of fingerprints has become a norm in laptops and mobile phones to verify an individual’s identity. Before a chatbot is used to access a bank account or other service, they should first request the user to be authenticated using biometrics.
Encryption
Attackers can misuse data when in transit. As a result, various protocols exist to provide encryption of such data to address misuse and tampering. Article 32 (a) of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) requires that companies take measures to de-identify and encrypt personal data to ensure that chatbots only access and communicate through encrypted channels.
End-to-end encryption is common in various social media applications and messaging apps today.
Self-destructing messages
During transferring personally identifiable information (PII), it is essential to delete the message with such data after a defined period. It is because such information can identify a person.
PII includes records like educational, medical, financial, and employment information. Data elements that can locate and identify an individual include fingerprints, their names, and biometric data, including genetic data. Others are emails, telephone numbers, addresses, and social security numbers. Such a security measure is vital, primarily if you work with banking and other financial chatbots.
Data storage
It is important to note that chatbots store user data. Where is such information held, and for how long? This is a question that is worth asking. If a chatbot performs online payments, the clients must provide their financial information to it. For the service to be affected, the chatbot has to perform constant information storage and retrieval.
According to article 5 (e) of the general data protection regulation (GDPR), you should not keep personal data for a period longer than necessary to complete the purpose which was being processed. The ideal solution is to keep such data securely for some time and then discard it.
Human causes
No system is foolproof to the human factor. We can attribute most cybersecurity issues to human causes, be it negligence or otherwise. Specifically, in commercial applications, the security of a chatbot and end-to-end encryption must be resolved. It will be a sure way to protect the chatbots from threats that human causes may pose.
Final thoughts
As technology use increases, there are new threats that are cropping up daily. Many times, we forget about security when performing activities like online shopping, banking, and even using our favorite social media accounts. It is vital to interrogate the security of an online platform before giving out your personally identifiable information. This can be as simple as checking if the platform is TLS or HTTPS secure.
Various companies are nowadays adopting multiple measures to store their user information securely and using chatbots extensively. The security behind the chatbots is remarkable even though they are relatively new.
