How identity verification infrastructure as a service thwarts identity theft

Verifying the identity of employees is not an easy feat. Today, identity fraud is so common that according to Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2021, traditional identity fraud losses, where fraudsters used a consumer’s personal information to achieve illicit financial gain, cost $24 billion and affected 15 million consumers across the U.S. 

Yet, more vendors are aiming to address the challenge of fraud from the perspective of enterprises. 

One of these providers is online verification company Authenticate, which today announced the launch of a new identity verification infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution to enable organizations to integrate photo ID and passport authentication into any application or platform. 

The solution highlights the ways in which photo ID and passport authentication methods could provide the answer to identity-based attacks and identity fraud that have run rampant over the past few years. 

Assuring identity in a remote world 

With global lockdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic providing ample time for fraudsters to learn new techniques and innovate new scams, enterprises are finding it more difficult to verify the identity of customers and employees at scale — particularly in remote working environments. 

“Identity fraud is the number one source of cybercrime and it’s growing rapidly,” said Steve Ward, founder and CEO of Authenticate. “Through its Meta Verify UI Authenticate will collect, process, analyze, store and secure, personally identifying information at the request of its customers and with the consent of the consumer in connection with their use of whatever product or service they’re signing up for.” 

The platform enables enterprises to verify the identity of users in seconds, through a mix of solutions including facial recognition, likeness detection, knowledge quizzes and background checks. 

“Voluntarily audited and independently certified for SOC 2 Type II compliance, Authenticate can assure its customers that they meet the highest standards of trust, privacy, confidentiality, security, reliability and processing integrity,” Ward said. 

Global identity verification market 

Authenticate competes within the global identity verification market, which researchers valued at $8.43 billion in 2021 and predict will reach a value of $32.94 billion by 2030. 

Two of the organization’s main competitors in the space are Checkr and Sterling. Checkr offers a solution for performing background checks on employees that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to eliminate manual reviews. Last year, Checkr raised $250 million in funding to achieve a $4.6 billion valuation. 

Sterling also offers background checks and screening from criminal background checks to drug and health screening, credit reports, civil court records, and COVID-19 health testing. 

According to Ward, what differentiates Authenticate’s solution from competitors is its focus on risk management and fraud prevention, rather than background checks. 

“Authenticate is serving an area in desperate need of bespoke solutions for risk management, fraud prevention, theft deterrence, asset protection, trust and safety,” he said.