Selfie biometrics secure ID verification across sectors, but deepfakes loom

Selfie biometrics remain a popular tool for digital ID verification, authentication and KYC, with new integrations and partner developments across the UK and Europe for firms including Yoti, Daon, iDenfy and FaceTec. But features such as liveness and channel artifact detection will become increasingly important as deepfake fraud techniques achieve a new level of realism.

Yoti digital ID integrated into UK rent reporting tool

Through Digital ID Connect, the UK’s largest digital identity app network, Yoti’s digital ID tech can now be used to sign up to CreditLadder for online rent reporting. According to a press release, reporting on CreditLadder appears on credit files, so lenders and landlords can track delinquency and renters can bring an improved credit score to applications, enabling fairer finance.

Once renters have signed in to CreditLadder using the Yoti-powered Digital ID Connect app to verify their age and identity, they can then provide bank account and rental agreement information for tracking via open banking.

“The vision for Digital ID Connect is to provide faster and more secure ways for people to share their information with valued services that need identity or age verification,” says John Abbott, chief commercial officer for strategic partnerships at Yoti. “I am delighted to be working with CreditLadder so that the tens of thousands of people installing our app each month have extended partnerships available at their fingertips.”

Telefónica deploys Daon biometrics against rampant fraud

Daon is supplying biometric face identification using selfie-to-ID document matching for telecom giant Telefónica Spain. A release says the face biometrics system will be available across the various digital and physical channels of Telefónica’s Movistar and O2 brands, to protect customers against account takeovers, SIM swaps, phishing, and deepfakes. Liveness detection and document authentication are also built in. Daon says the one-time process will give customers secure access to services such as duplicating a SIM card, updating personal data or or changing an account password. Data generated during onboarding is used exclusively for security and ID verification, in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ISO privacy standards (ISO/IEC 27018 and 27701).

“Identity verification and strong customer authentication is more critical every day for telecom operators, says Daon’s President of EMEA and APAC, Clive Bourke. “SIM swapping is back, phishing is everywhere and the eSIM represents a new challenge, as operators may lose the physical link to their customers. Having strong remote identity proofing is a key asset for Telefónica and it is great to work with them on all these different cross-channel use cases.”

Football club selects iDenfy for anti-fraud verification

Another European football club has turned to biometrics, with Standard de Liège, a team in the Belgian league, engaging Lithuanian firm iDenfy as a document verification provider. In a release, iDenfy cites a report from the National Cyber Security Centre, which revealed that 70 percent of sports organizations encounter at least one cyber attack each year. Standard de Liège says ticket fraud is an ongoing issue that leads to losses in revenue for the club.

To combat fraud, the club will use iDenfy’s full-stack KYC software to enable digital identity-based remote membership registration. Registration triggers the delivery of a membership card that can be used to gain entry to matches and make payments at the venue for concession and souvenir items. It also allows incident tracking and security monitoring. The four-step process extracts personal information from among 3,000 different government-issued ID documents and uses facial recognition algorithms to detect face masks, 3D renderings, deepfakes, and other attempts to bypass the KYC process.

“With the growing sales of online tickets and the dedicated fanbase of Standard de Liège, we are honored to provide our identity verification services and enhance the level of security in the sports and entertainment environment,” says Domantas Ciulde, CEO of iDenfy.

Zengo dares people to steal bitcoin from its wallet

Crypto wallet Zengo has put 10 bitcoin into its wallet and issued a dare to hackers. “With 6 audits in the last 5 years and a spotless track record, we’re putting 10 Bitcoin (over US$420,000) in a Zengo wallet, waiting just for you,” says a post on the company’s blog. “It’s on-chain, yours for the taking.” The Zengo Wallet Challenge launched on January 9 and lasts for 15 days, during which time anyone who can hack the Zengo wallet can claim the prize. Zengo is even giving hints, doubling down on its confidence in the security of its MPC cryptography and 3-step wallet recovery tied to user selfie biometrics. Launched last year, the company’s Zengo Pro option uses software from FaceTec to let users set 3D face biometrics and liveness checks as an authentication method for outgoing transactions.

Zengo’s website has updates, hints and a breakdown on how to create content about the challenge to win US$750 in Bitcoin.

ID R&D co-founder has advice for KYC developers

Konstantin Simonchik, the CEO of ID R&D, posted on LinkedIn about a deepfake selfie being discussed on Reddit, and linked to an article entitled “3 Key Concerns in Generative AI that KYC Platforms Must Address”.

“It seems 2024 will be a challenging year for KYC platforms,” says Simonchik. He lists synthetic voice phishing and voice cloning as emergent risks, along with fake identity generation and increasingly realistic deepfakes. Among tools that can help businesses, institutions and individuals prepare, he lists two-level artifact detection that analyzes content artifacts (artifacts on the image) and uses presentation and injection attack detection to identify channel artifacts (software and processing traces) and test for liveness.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  Daon  |  Digital ID Connect  |  FaceTec  |  ID R&D  |  iDenfy  |  identity verification  |  selfie biometrics  |  Yoti  |  Zengo