We recently addressed the Digital Identity Africa conference, an event focused on unlocking the value of digital identity and trust in a digital-first world. This was an important opportunity for us to represent iiDENTIFii, and continue engaging in a wider conversation on digital identity in Africa. The conference helped illustrate the pivotal role face biometrics play in pioneering secure, efficient and accessible identity on the continent.
The cost of identity theft
It is highly publicised that identity theft costs South Africa R1 billion every year and has grown a staggering 200% over the last six years. IBM Security estimates that the average data breach costs a South African company R46 million and takes around eight months to detect and contain. Our country also has the third-highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide, losing approximately R2.2 billion annually to cyber-attacks. In the world of financial services, online authentication is paramount. How can we ensure that the person transacting on the other end of the screen is who they say they are?
The role of biometrics and liveness detection
The average person has around 80 passwords. Passwords they forget, passwords that are compromised, and passwords that don’t transfer between devices. Biometrics, on the other hand, provide a seamless experience where onboarding no longer requires account details, an ID book, or fingerprints. All it needs is a short process of taking a selfie using technology that ensures that the person on the other side is a genuine, physically present human being verifying their identity at that moment.
At iiDENTIFii, we envision a world where this identification method soon becomes mainstream. For example, two-factor authentication could be replaced by proof of liveness and a fingerprint. The world is ready. A Visa study shows that 86 per cent of consumers are interested in using biometrics to verify identity or to make payments, while 70 per cent believe that biometrics are easier.
The necessity for biometrics
One could ask, why now? Why not use the verification and authentication processes already entrenched in financial services and governments at various levels? Unfortunately, as technology advances and cybercrime tools become more freely and cheaply available, opt-in biometric onboarding with liveness detection is one of the few methods that offers comprehensive protection for institutions and their clients from fraud. Fraudsters have made face-matching on its own almost obsolete by employing spoofs that exhibit human traits, such as photos or puppets. Even authentication processes with gesture/motion requirements can still be spoofed. Leading biometrics AI uses liveness detection to determine that it is interfacing with a genuine, physically present human. This makes it far safer than passwords or PINs, which can be hacked or stolen by fraudsters.
Our experience so far
The results of biometric authentication are compelling. Within Africa, we have worked with some of the continent’s leading banks to implement face verification to enable inclusivity, accessibility, usability and privacy using biometric authentication. The use case extends beyond banking. Our technology is being successfully applied in industries such as telecommunications, national services, online education and border security and immigration.
Interested in redefining identity in your business? Contact us.
