Regula’s Henry Patishman explains how strong ID verification may improve security, prevent financial losses, and keep users happy in the fight against identity fraud in banking.
A wide range of digital transformation processes are taking place within traditional banks. Digital onboarding, the process of opening a bank account over the Internet, is one area where they’ve noticed room for improvement. One further realization: strong security measures, not just process automation, are necessary to prevent identity fraud. However, what precisely do these steps entail?
A Definition of Identity Verification.
Verifying someone’s or something’s identification is called “identity verification.” To do this online, it is common practice to seek basic personal information like name, address, and date of birth and then use that data to search through other databases, such as public records or credit bureaus, to verify the user’s identity. Other identity verification methods include using biometric data like fingerprints or facial recognition or having the user answer security questions.
Why Is It Crucial to Confirm One’s Identity?
More and more business is being done online, making identity verification increasingly crucial. Identity thieves can steal your personal information and use it to commit crimes like creating a bank account in your name or applying for a loan without providing sufficient documentation.
By verifying the user’s identity, businesses may reduce the risk of fraud and only deal with legitimate customers.
- A Safe User Experience Must Not Be Compromised
Identity verification is essential for safety but may hurt the user experience. For instance, it can be annoying and time-consuming to require users to provide a lot of personal information or to answer complicated security questions.
If clients find the verification process too cumbersome, they may choose to go elsewhere.
However, fraud, which can result from inadequate security measures, can damage a company’s reputation and result in financial losses. Finding a happy medium between safety and convenience is, therefore, essential.
2. Methods for Efficient Identity Verification
Best identity verification practices that consider security and user experience are as follows.
Keep Things Easy
One of the best ways to enhance the user experience is to simplify the identity verification process as much as possible. Refrain from letting users guess complex security questions to which they may not know the solution and only ask for necessary information. Instead, you may use the user’s biometric data, such as their fingerprints or a photo of their face, to verify their identity.
- Provide Detailed Guidance
Explain the steps involved in verifying one’s identity. All required fields and input methods must be communicated to users. Use plain English instead of confusing technical jargon.
- Offer a Range of Methods for Checking Identity
Give users a variety of methods to verify their accounts so they can pick the one that is most convenient for them. Some users may want to enter their passwords, while others may elect to answer security questions.
- Rely on Independent Verification Services
Use external verification services to make the process more secure and quick. Using many data sources, such as public records and credit bureaus, these services may quickly verify a user’s identification.
- Try New Things and Get Better
Users can help improve identity verification by providing regular input during testing. Seek out user feedback and adjust the product accordingly. This will help maximize the process’s effectiveness and efficiency for the user.
Several Varieties of Biometric Authentication
- Biometric Fingerprinting
Scanning a person’s fingerprints to read the unique patterns of ridges and curves on their fingertips is the most common kind of biometric authentication. As technology has progressed, scanners that examine vascular ways and fingerprint ridges have also entered the authentication picture. However, fingerprint scanners dominate the market due to their convenience and widespread availability.
- The Eyes Scan
Eye scanners are examples of devices used for examining the eyes, specifically the retina, and iris. A retinal scanner shines a bright light into the eye to highlight the patterns of blood vessels that the scanner can read. Data in the archive are compared to these measurements. Iris scanners examine unique designs in the colored ring around the pupil. Both scanning methods are highly effective for quick and easy verification without manual entry.
- Recognizable Faces
The human face is analyzed by facial recognition software against a database of known parameters and features. Faceprints are a catch-all phrase for comparing shared traits.
- Speech Detection
This new generation of scanning technology is focused on using vocal characteristics as a means of individual identification. Many different pieces of information must be recorded to create an accurate voiceprint. Verbal recognition systems don’t merely analyze the sounds made by a person’s voice but also the shapes made by their mouths and throats.
- Tokens vs. Fingerprints
Biometrics can be used as a second factor in multi-factor authentication. Authentication via biometric methods is usually limited to portable devices like laptops and mobile phones because of the physical presence requirement. The strength of biometric authentication stems from biometric identifiers being much more complicated to forge than passwords.
On the other hand, there are numerous methods for breaking passwords. The most common form of cyber attack is phishing, in which hackers send emails purporting to be from customer service asking for sensitive information. You must be physically present or registered to the device to transmit a biometric authentication technique successfully.
- Authentication Using Multiple Biometric Methods
To further improve identity security, multimodal biometric authentication uses many biometric identifiers at once. By eliminating the possibility of false positives and negatives, this method provides a higher protection level than traditional, single-modal biometric systems.
Multimodal authentication offers a more secure and thorough solution by combining different types of biometrics, such as fingerprint and facial recognition or voice and iris scanning. It protects against spoofing, in which a fraudster uses stolen or forged biometric information to fool the system.
- Mobile Authentication Using Biometrics
Biometric authentication uses identifying characteristics of the user to confirm their identity before granting access to a mobile app. Fingerprint scanners, facial recognition, and voice recognition are just a few of the technologies that can be used to do this. These biometric features can augment or replace the standard username/password system entirely.
Conclusion
Using biometrics can help provide a safer and more convenient experience for customers. AI will play a part in managing the verification process, given companies adopting it typically do so to service a customer base of substantial scale. How a company chooses to implement AI has a significant impact on the biometrics experience, even though it can reinforce human prejudices. To guarantee universal availability and participation, it is necessary to construct algorithms using a wide range of data. More fair distribution of resources can be achieved by the global monitoring of algorithmic biases based on demographics such as gender, ethnicity, and age.
About Author:
Prashant Pujara is the founder and CEO of MultiQoS Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a top mobile app development company in the USA that provides eCommerce development solutions to companies of all sizes. If you are looking to hire an iPhone app developer, MultiQoS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. offers expertise in developing high-quality iPhone applications tailored to your specific needs.
