Intensity Analytics: Spearheading Behavioral Biometrics

Traditional approaches to user authentication through usernames and passwords put a user’s identity in the hands of service providers, like Equifax—something that Tom Ketcham, a technologist and serial entrepreneur, could not accept. Ketcham believes that “physical behavior analysis” is the key to solving identity problems. His and his business partners’ idea of utilizing a person’s pattern of typing, writing, drawing, or movement as data to establish an individual’s identity, sparked the inception of Intensity Analytics. They developed a patented AI engine that reveals a person’s identity through physical behavior analysis using the data coming from keyboards, touchscreens, and other devices, including wearables. “The engine creates its own rules about a person’s behavior to identify them, which is artificial intelligence in the true sense,” says Tom Ketcham, CIO, EVP and co-founder, Intensity Analytics. As Ketcham puts it, “this connects identity to an actual person, and not just a set of credentials.”

The productized versions of Intensity Analytics’ technology include TickStream. KeyID and Tickstream.CV, both of which verify users’ identities without capturing any personally identifiable information, but by examining their “efforts” while using a device. TickStream.KeyID establishes a trusted identity during login using behavior analytics, providing a second factor for authentication. Then, post login, Tickstream.CV continuously ascertains a user’s identity throughout the session as they use their normal applications. Both TickStream.KeyID and Tickstream.CV can be run on desktops or added to websites, without any upgrades to hardware or software. “Our core design principle is to ensure our products can coexist with a firm’s existing systems,” states Ketcham. Both TickStream.KeyID and Tickstream.CV collect metrics on unauthorized users, following which appropriate action can be initiated.

Clients using TickSteam products have the final say with regard to the security level pertaining to user authentication. Ketcham mentions that Intensity Analytics provides fast implementation and integration to secure clients’ environments; the software approach adopted by the company allows security to be implemented at different levels within an application.