An electronic device includes a communication interface and at least one processor configured for: transmitting to or receiving from a second electronic device over proximity-based communication channel an introduction message including a first encryption key; receiving, from a server via the at least one communication interface, a challenge notification providing notification of a challenge to be completed to initiate a data process, the challenge notification including or providing access to at least one data field associated with a verification challenge; identifying, from the at least one data field, an encrypted challenge response value; decrypting the encrypted challenge response value with a key corresponding to the first encryption key; and transmitting the decrypted challenge response value to the server to complete the challenge to initiate the data process.