Top 3 challenges of identity verification — and how to solve them
As the world continues to become more digital, accurately verifying that users are actually who they say they are is becoming increasingly important.
Unfortunately, identity verification can be challenging and requires a delicate balance if you want to deter fraud while still allowing legitimate users to easily access your service.
At Persona, we partner with some of the world’s largest companies, including Postmates, Square, Coursera, and Sonder, to solve their identity needs. Over the years, we’ve learned a lot and wanted to dig into the three main challenges of identity verification we see businesses face — along with how to solve them.
Every day, fraud is becoming more common. In fact, 49 million consumers fell victim to identity fraud in 2020, with total losses of $56 billion. Because of this, it’s easier than ever to find and access personal information online. Unsurprisingly, businesses can no longer solely rely on something like a Social Security number (SSN) to verify identity, as over 70% of SSNs have been leaked.
Technology also plays a role here. While companies used to be able to simply ask for passwords or ID cards, these methods in isolation aren’t enough to accurately verify identities, as fraudsters can use bots to perform hundreds of account takeovers a second and Photoshop to forge official documents. Even selfies aren’t a foolproof verification option, as bad actors can use deepfake software to create realistic photos and videos that can fool even a sophisticated computer.
