Socure praises digital identity focus, overdue standards project in CHIPS and Science Act

The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into U.S. law last week, is a huge win for the global technology industry, both due to the investment in manufacturing for microchips, but also the support it provides for research and development in digital identity technologies, according to a new blog post from Socure.

The Act comes after more than three years of intense lobbying for domestic investment to lower reliance in Chinese suppliers for semiconductors, the post says, but also supports other areas that Socure believes are just as vital to domestic interests.

A new technology directorate being created at the National Science Foundation and new authorities for NIST can help boost the state of the art in machine learning and identity verification, respectively. Socure says it contributed to the inclusion of new requirements by NIST to help cut fraud against government programs.

The NIST standards for trusted online transactions with digital identity are long-awaited, and the focus on attribute validation services likely to help move beyond legacy models that can hold out up to 20 percent of people in the U.S., Socure’s VP of Government Relations Brendan Peter writes.

“Identity proofing and verification mechanisms are specifically called out in the legislation, and Congress recognized that proofing systems must be risk-based and adaptive to continuously evolving fraud schemes to ensure trust and security,” explains Peter. “One-size-fits-all approaches that leverage static rules have not met the market’s needs for years. The new requirement for NIST will accelerate the adoption of novel risk and identity verification approaches like Socure’s graph-defined identity verification, which is built to address rising synthetic and third-party fraud vectors that networked fraud rings use to steal money and take over legitimate users’ identities.”

The post lauds the Act for its potential to drive inclusivity gains, and says that data-driven approaches should be used to confirm digital identity, rather than controversial technologies like facial recognition. The new parts of NISTs’ biometrics-testing mandate could help identify those approaches.

Listed among cloud leaders, fast-growing private companies

Socure has also appeared on the Elite Forbes Cloud 100 list and the Inc. 5000 2022.

The company says it is the only biometric identity verification company on the Elite Forbes Cloud 100, which ranks the world’s top private cloud companies. Socure also appeared on the 2021 edition of the list.

The Inc. 5000 recognizes the fastest-growing privately-held businesses in America. Socure came in at number 1,397 on this year’s list.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  CHIPS and Science Act  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  legislation  |  NIST  |  research and development  |  Socure  |  standards