Multi-factor authentication to generate $27 billion: Juniper

Mobile operators are expected to generate $27 billion from multi-factor authentication SMS text messages globally in 2022, according to a new study from Juniper Research.

Multi-factor authentication is the combination of two or more identifying credentials, including email or code sent via SMS to verify and secure a transaction.

This jump represents a five percent growth from $27 billion generated in 2021. The authors suggest that this growth is a results of increased cybersecurity pressure on digital service providers.

According to research co-author Keith Breed, “SMEs have typically not invested in messaging for security in the past. However, rising pressure to implement greater security for users will drive adoption amongst SMEs over the next 5 years, and increase global traffic.”

The research shows that 1.7 trillion multi-factor authentication messages will be delivered globally this year, making up 60 percent of all business SMS traffic.

Operators may leverage firewalls to monitor SMS traffic used for multi-factor authentication in order to capitalise on the growth in demand in this sector and charge a premium for this traffic.
Mobile operators are expected to automate the monitoring of this traffic by leveraging machine learning algorithms, the report said.

“Automating traffic detection is crucial for operators as we expect multi-factor authentication traffic to grow to 2.1 billion messages by 2027,” said Breed.

The Covid-19 pandemic as driven an increased uptake in digital services and such as digital virtual assistants, according to a Juniper whitepaper on the topic.

According to the report, “Voice AI is being used to extract information from normal voice calls to create a meaningful series of instructions, which can answer user questions quickly and efficiently. Users are increasingly being verified by video, using facial recognition with 3D ‘liveness’ detection as a more secure form of authentication.

“Through the pandemic, enterprises have been able to see the advantages of investing in digital technology with authentication and the level of investment appears set to continue.”