UnifyID launches passive authentication platform powered by behavioral biometrics

Passive authentication startup UnifyID has announced its frictionless online and physical dynamic probability and confidence scoring technology has reached general availability.

The company says it uses over 100 behavioural and environmental factors to authenticate users with 99.999 percent confidence. The capabilities run in the background to remove the need for passwords, without arousing the same privacy concerns among users as facial biometrics. UnifyID’s machine learning system continuously learns from users, so that even if a confidence score drops after a customer is injured or moves, and is temporarily required to use traditional authentication methods, these backup methods will be reduced over time. The company also says it is “well on track” to onboarding one million daily active users through its customers.

The platform can be built into existing Android and iOS applications through its SDK, which features a new API for integration with fraud and risk engines and authentication systems. It also has little effect on battery and data usage.

“So much of our personal and financial data is vulnerable to hacking because most sites – including banking, retail and healthcare – just require a simple password for authentication,” said John Whaley, founder and CEO of UnifyID. “We use deep neural networks and machine learning to discover what makes you unique. Smartphone sensors are precise and ubiquitous enough to build a unique digital model for each user, ensuring a more seamless, secure and implicit process for security and authentication.”

The announcement cites research from Enterprise Strategy Group showing that 82 percent of U.S. consumers never want to use passwords again, and nearly three-quarters find it difficult to keep track of their passwords. Additionally, more than two out of three people from the “baby boom” and “gen x” generations are reluctant to use facial biometrics due to privacy concerns, as are half of millennials, according to the research.

UnifyID raised $20 million in a Series A funding round last year to back its launch into the application market.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  passive authentication  |  privacy  |  UnifyID