Identity verification processes have grown as the years have progressed. We have gone from basic passwords to two-factor authentication of 2FA, thus security has improved greatly. However, like every coin has two sides, advancements come with limitations. Passwords are readily forgotten or stolen, and knowledge-based questions can be influenced and are difficult to remember as well.
Identity theft is a rising global problem. According to The Identity Theft Research Center (ITRC) Annual Data Breach Report around 353 million citizens were affected by data compromises which led to identity theft in 2023. This was the highest-ever number in a year for the US, and 72 percentage points higher than the previous highest-ever figure.
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Selfie identity verification is the most recent development in countering fraud in these industries. It uses biometric technologies and provides a secure and user-friendly approach to identification verification.
What is Selfie Identity Verification?
Selfie identity verification, or selfie authentication, is a biometric authentication process. It records your unique facial traits to verify your identity. This technology scans the unique structure of your face and converts it into digital data that can be easily evaluated, compared, and validated.
Selfie identity verification is gaining popularity among industries because it combines usability and security. According to a report by The Insight Partners, the identity certification market was worth $9.16 billion in 2022. This market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% to reach $31.95 billion in 2030. Selfie verification is commonly used by banks during account creation and credit disbursal. During client onboarding, for example, customers need to just submit their government-issued ID and click a selfie. The software compares this selfie with the ID to verify the person is actually who they claim to be, thus avoiding identity theft and unauthorized access.
How does Selfie Authentication work?
Selfie verification is an important part of the KYC verification process, which is legally needed for banks, financial institutions, and regulated businesses (such as gaming, casinos, and real estate).
Selfie verification includes the following steps:
Step 1: Request a photo of a current or potential customer’s government-issued ID, typically a passport or driver’s license.
Step 2: Cross-check this information with third-party government databases (in a procedure officially known as database verification).
To verify a customer, ask them to take and upload a selfie, series of selfies, or video. After that, the information needs to be checked with their government-issued ID for liveness detection. This AI-driven technology uses advanced algorithms to distinguish legitimate individuals from deepfakes and still photographs.
What is Liveness Detection?
Liveness detection is an important technological development used in selfie identity verification. It assesses whether the customer is a real person and not a pre-recorded video, image, or other contrived representation. Facial movement analysis and real-time interaction prompts help in confirming the individual’s identity.
The recording of these features also reduces the instances of spoofing events. The customer does not need to do a whole lot more than clicking a selfie. All the data points are created in the background by the software or platform where the selfie is uploaded.
How Does Liveness Detection Work?
Liveness detection algorithms examine the following features of a selfie to establish its genuineness:
- Facial movement: The algorithm scans and records small facial motions like blinking, eye movement, and head-turning that cannot be recreated in a fake image or video.
- Skin texture: Real skin has a distinct texture, unlike a fake image or mask.
- Reflection in eyes: Liveness detection algorithms analyze the reflection in the user’s eyes to authenticate an individual’s presence.
How Does Selfie Identity Verification Help Businesses?
Usually, selfie verification is used on top of existing verification methods, like document and database verification. This additional verification layer enables you to adopt an all-encompassing approach to identity. Selfie verification helps in lowering the risk of spoofing and identity fraud in online transactions. On top of this, selfie verification also helps in reducing verification difficulties like:
- Avoiding database breaches: An individual provides sensitive information, such as their social security number, date of birth, driver’s license number, and more, to be verified against official sources, such as a third-party database or a government-issued ID, during identity verification.
Unfortunately, all of this information may be vulnerable to database breaches. Hackers have previously obtained social security numbers, dates of birth, legal names, and even photographs of IDs from databases. As a result, when an individual’s information is stolen in a database breach, detecting instances of identity theft or fraud using standard verification methods can be especially challenging.
In these circumstances, selfie verification with liveness detection adds another degree of security. Even if a hacker has stolen important information, a government-issued ID, or a photo of the subject, it is exceedingly difficult to defraud well-implemented liveness checks.
- Prevent spoofing attacks: Combining selfie identity verification and liveness detection protects against spoofing attempts. Liveness detection approaches use face movements, head movements, glare patterns, and other characteristics to assess if a person is physically present or depicted in an image or video. This prohibits criminals from impersonating someone else using a pre-recorded video or photo.
- Low-friction verification: Selfie verification can be used not just during the account registration process but also for periodic re-verification, such as when an individual logs in, fails an authentication check, or performs a high-risk action. The best part is that when used in this way, selfie checks not only increase the security of your client accounts but also reduce friction.
Having to rescan an ID or re-enter personal information for the verification procedure can be tiresome and time-consuming. On the contrary, snapping a selfie is easy. This makes selfie verification improve security without causing a drop-off among customers.
Selfie identity verification is evolving what customer onboarding looks like for businesses and employees. This is critical for anyone trying to develop their business and guarantee that all relationships are secure and successful.
Selfie identity verification is evolving what customer onboarding looks like for businesses and employees. It is critical for anyone trying to develop a business with security and good relations.
So, if you want to provide the best client experience and make your business more accessible, including Signzy’s selfie verification API and KYC API in your plan is the way to go.
For further doubts, please refer to our FAQs below.
- Understanding the meaning of selfie identification and how it works.
- Learning about liveness detection, the aspects that it records to verify the user’s identity, and how liveness detection works.
- Exploring the ways selfie verification helps various businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is selfie document verification?
A selfie document verification is a process used to verify individuals on a digital network. The process compares a person’s selfie against their government-issued identification documents to verify their identity. Selfie document verification assures that the person presenting the ID is the legitimate holder, which is particularly helpful in online transactions or verifications.
Passports, Driver’s licenses, National identification cards, Voter IDs, and Social Security Cards are the ID documents that can be used for selfie verification.
What are the advantages of selfie identity verification?
Selfie ID verification has many benefits. These include but are not limited to, improving the user experience and increasing the convenience of identity verification. Selfie ID verification also helps in the digital automation of the verification process, which increases accuracy and productivity.
Do I need to activate the camera?
Yes, you need to select ‘Allow’ when a pop-up appears on your screen. When the verification process is complete, your camera will immediately turn off.
