Top 5 Identity Verification Solutions & Software
Finding the best identity verification solution may be difficult depending on the features your business requires, but we make it easy with our top 5 guide.
The Top 5 Identity Verification Solutions in 2023
1Kosmos
The 1Kosmos BlockID solution is a security and usability-first platform focused on identity verification that can streamline onboarding for distributed users without compromising security. 1Kosmos also integrates identity management and authentication into a single platform so that enterprises can deploy ultra-secure systems that remain compliant across several frameworks and regulations.
BlockID includes ID proofing, liveness testing, and compliance with KYC, AML, and IAL2 requirements. More importantly, the BlockID solution supports additional security for authentication with advanced biometrics and AAL2 compliance with simple onboarding through mobile devices and private blockchain ID management.
Trulioo
Trulioo is a globally known identity verification system that boasts support for 4,200 types of documents from 195 countries. Trulioo is also KYC and AML compliant but doesn’t include analytics or AI features.
Trulioo also offers what is known as on-demand business verification to streamline business and client onboarding for Know Your Business (KYB) and KYC due diligence. Trulioo also offers a free trial for “limited verifications” without restricting too many features.
Jumio
Jumio, another global provider, covers 3,500 documents from over 200 countries (while supporting fewer document types than other solutions). It also supports KYC, AML and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance and has a particular footing in global financial markets.
Jumio also offers several features like AI, document verification for over 3,500 types, and compliance with important regulations like PCI DSS and GDPR. It also comes with a free trial for businesses to try the service.
Onfido
Onfido is a bit of a hot and cold solution. On the one hand, they meet KYC and AML requirements, including biometric ID proofing and user-controlled identification accounts. Their use of AI also supports anti-fraud and money laundering efforts, especially when handling visual biometrics. On the other, it covers upwards of 2,500 documents, which is a little less than other solutions.
Onfido offers biometrics and authentication apps for both Android and iOS phones. It also includes several analytics categories, but not as many as some of the other solutions. Finally, there are free trials offered, but they come with required email capture and engagement with the company.
SEON
Seon offers an account linking different accounts to conduct checks against identification and Internet accounts. However, they do not offer document or biometric checking nor do they strictly meet AML requirements.
SEON also offers several background checking abilities against user accounts or devices, including reverse social media lookup, device fingerprinting and IP analysis. It does not include biometrics as part of its package, so no advanced authentication.
What Is Identity Verification?
Identity verification, also referred to as identity proofing, is the practice of determining that individuals are who they say they are in an actual physical sense, usually through an onboarding or visual verification process. This may sound similar to the process of authentication. Still, authentication is more accurately described as a technical process where a user provides a set of credentials to access system resources.
Identity verification is often used in high-security environments where data privacy and system integrity are crucial. Several laws and regulations apply to verification in such circumstances:
- Know Your Customer: KYC laws have been around since the 1990s, but after 9/11, stricter requirements were implemented as part of the U.S. Patriot Act. KYC laws require financial institutions to establish a customer’s identity through strict risk-based processes.
- Anti-Money Laundering: These regulations overlap with KYC regulations and encompass specific anti-fraud practices based around identity and access management.
- Identity Assurance Levels: Defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-63A, Identity Assurance Levels specify increasingly stringent requirements for compliant identity verification. These levels include getting identifying documents from the individual, physical, or remote presences during the verification and providing other linking information to connect verification documents.
There are several different methods to verify someone’s identity with that in mind. These include the following:
- Document Verification: Using IDs like a driver’s license, social security card, or passport to verify someone is who they say they are. Documents can also be verified through technical means like watermark detection, font analysis, or alignment detection.
- Liveness Detection: A technical process where a verification system detects spoofing during biometric authentication, usually attached to visual artifacts like video or images. These determine that a hacker isn’t, for example, using images or masks to fool biometrics.
- One-Time Passwords: Sending an OTP to a customer through an email or (better still) an SMS text message can serve as a way to verify a user is present at their phone or computer.
- Trusted Identity Networks: Existing verification credentials and onboarding can be provided through a secure network to streamline onboarding in other contexts.
So in specific industries, particularly finance and government contracting, this strict layer of ID verification is crucial for security and compliance above and beyond authentication security.
What Should I Look for in an Identity Verification Solution?
There are some baseline features that an identity management service should have, regardless of the industry or compliance standards they target. While built on technical processes and capabilities, identity verification will also include critical interoperability. Because verification is such a necessary process, these aspects are something your organization shouldn’t compromise.
Some of these features include:
- Support for Regulations: At a base level, your verification solution should provide you with the capability to meet the requirements of your specific industry, whether they adhere to KYC regulations, AML regulations, or IAL standards.
- Intelligence and Analytics: Analytics play a critical role in preventing identity-based theft and fraud. Your platform should allow you to track data sets and verification information to avoid fraud and to optimize user experiences.
- Liveness Testing: Liveness testing isn’t just a verification method—it can also support more secure user authentication through stronger visual biometrics.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: AI can help in numerous ways, some of the most essential relating to behavior analysis, document analysis, and suggestions related to verification.
- Cross-Industry Collaboration: A verification solution should derive intelligence from information across many industries to thwart hackers that operate across different markets.
1Kosmos: Modern, Distributed Identity Verification for Dynamic Workforces
1Kosmos BlockID provides a combination of tools that helps organizations verify identity and conduct system authentication securely. The focus is simple: to provide secure authentication and compliant identity verification on remote devices with frictionless onboarding.
The following features are included with 1Kosmos BlockID:
- Identity Proofing: BlockID includes Identity Assurance Level 2 (NIST 800-63A IAL2), detects fraudulent or duplicate identities, and establishes or reestablishes credential verification.
- Identity-Based Authentication Orchestration: We push biometrics and authentication into a new “who you are” paradigm. BlockID uses biometrics to identify individuals, not devices, through identity credential triangulation and validation.
- Integration with Secure MFA: BlockID readily integrates with a standard-based API to operating systems, applications, and MFA infrastructure at AAL2. BlockID is also FIDO2 certified, protecting against attacks that attempt to circumvent multi-factor authentication.
- Cloud-Native Architecture: Flexible and scalable cloud architecture makes it simple to build applications using our standard API, including private blockchains.
- Privacy by Design: 1Kosmos protects personally identifiable information in a private blockchain and encrypts digital identities in secure enclaves only accessible through advanced biometric verification.
To learn about 1Kosmos authentication and verification features, read our whitepaper on Strong Identity-Based Authentication. Also, sign up for our newsletter to learn more about 1Kosmos products and services.
