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| Amazon monitors keystrokes to protect customer data |
Amazon plans to monitor how its employees use keyboards and mice to prevent data leaks from customers. This is an internal company document for the motherboard.
Although the document states that the company was considering a solution that captures all employee keystrokes, the company appears to have purchased tools not designed to record what employees type or monitor their communications.
Instead, the system creates a profile based on the employee's natural mouse and keyboard movements, then constantly checks to see if the same person appears to be controlling the employee's account in order to catch hackers or fraudsters who might be stealing data.
The move highlights the kinds of tools companies can increasingly use when working from home or continuing to work remotely during the ongoing pandemic, as well as the issues Amazon is facing with customer data theft.
The document also contains specific cases where people may have stolen Amazon customer data. The retailer is said to have a penchant for using BehavioSec's licensing tools.
The document states: We are considering an option that includes capturing all keystrokes and after enabling this feature we may not be able to provide a standard solution.
The document states that the company needs to monitor the keyboard and mouse in response to many different threats. According to the document, people who impersonate customer service representatives can access Amazon customer data.
Based on a series of manual audits, the company's security team found 4 cases in which fraudsters gained access to the data.
Amazon monitors keystrokes to protect customer data
The document says: We have a vulnerability because we do not have a reliable mechanism to verify that the user is the invited one.
The document also noted that the risk of data theft is higher as more employees work from home. The Security Company Limited is a tool for verifying the identity of external employees.
Amazon operates in high-risk areas with high levels of corruption and crime, which it describes. The document lists the countries in which companies are exposed to the most security threats. such as India and the Philippines.
The document then presented several hypothetical situations from which the company wanted to protect itself. Including a scenario in which a customer service representative forgets to lock his device and his roommate steals company data.
In another case, the hacker may have purchased the customer service agent password and multi-factor authentication equipment from the agent. Then he logs on to steal the data.
BehavioSec said: Behavioral biometrics use characteristics of human behavior to verify personal identity. It depends on how they interact digitally with their devices and apps. It's like mouse movements, typing patterns, swipe gestures, and the way you hold the device.
The document states that the cost of purchasing BehavioSec software for 750,000 users was $1,360,000.