How can data tracking help to safeguard vulnerable users?

Privacy has never been more of a trending topic. Companies and individuals are demanding greater control over their privacy, and navigating a new unknown with hybrid and flexible remote working, all while walking uncertain paths surrounding how trust and safety work hand in hand.

National Computer Security Day (30th November) is built around raising awareness about cyber security issues and online security, empowering individuals to take ownership of their online presence and identity. How can a greater understanding of pain points, pressure points and vulnerabilities help deliver a better online user and customer experience?

Consenting to data can enrich our digital experiences

The positives of data are unignorable: we absorb the algorithm-chosen content, curated for us on our news feeds and quite often we tap through those ads that are targeted at us. None of this would be possible without tracking cookies and data collection.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. People’s perception of web tracking is often negative, frequently associated with marketing exploitation and e-commerce optimisation. The questions surrounding use of our data online are enough to get even the most level-headed a little hot under the collar.

Is there a middle ground solution?

LAB flips the script on negative perceptions of web tracking by analysing user kinetic behaviour online to better understand human behaviour whether that individual needs an adjusted and safer financial services experience. And kinetic data isn’t really that personal or identifying, unlike demographic data.

Sometimes the standard journey does more harm than good if it doesn’t cater to any individuals outside the ‘ordinary’ experience. Currently, no regulatory tech exists to help vulnerable detection within financial services or wider online journeys. Yet demand from both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and consumers shows a need for a solution.

Our service (intra-browser vulnerability assessment or IBVA) uses machine learning to ‘personalize’ an experience to nudge vulnerable people away from potential risk and harm, rather than personalizing for conversion.

The IBVA offers a game-changing RegTech solution to better serve vulnerable users during online financial services journeys. It was built by a team of researchers, academics, and commercial minds at LAB Group.

LAB Group unites multi-disciplinary expertise across technology, digital marketing, data, communication and creativity to explore, challenge and push the boundaries from every angle.

In an anonymised fashion, our work identifying vulnerability aims to offer individuals greater protection without compromising privacy. The IBVA model relies on unidentifiable kinetic behaviour, such as clicking or scrolling patterns, as opposed to more invasive persona data (e.g. demographic information).

By removing the need to store online personal information about your online presence or identity, the model is at the forefront of how data can and should be used for your benefit, rather than for anyone else’s. Imagine if this prototype paved the way for a new way to help those most at risk. National Computer Security Day focuses on the security of the user, and the IBVA model truly offers the opportunity to create a safety net for those most in need.

In the end, it's not so much about what data is being collected as the intent behind why and how it is being used.

Natasha Kingdon is the Insight & Innovation Executive at VERJ, A LAB Group Agency.