What Is Identity Verification and How Does It Work?

what is identity verification

While Identity is the most essential & most used asset of a person, identity verification is the process to examine the identity of the person they claim matches their truth. ID verification measures whether a person is actually behind the identity he claims to be.

So, what Is identity verification? ID verification is an authentication process that matches a person’s identity to the data that proves it. There are a number of documents that can serve as providers of this objective truth including but not limited to birth certificates, social security cards, driving licenses, and others.

It has become an important part in most processes & procedures, both online & offline, in all types of situations, from bank account opening to electronically completing tax procedures.

It is also known as the KYC (know your customer) process in banking and in many finance related industries).

What is Online Identity Verification?

As much as we like to have faith in humanity, and this is very important, not everyone is honest. And in a world where we transact with faceless websites and apps on an almost daily basis, it is important to know who is legitimate and who is not, which document is real and which is not.

Online identity verification brings a digital revolution in the traditional methods of ID verification. With data breaches, account takeover attacks, and increasing demand for remote processes due to COVID-19 epidemic, people and businesses need to detect identity fraud and determine if someone is who they claim to be.

Online document verification services and methods such as biometric verification, facial recognition and digital ID document verification can help people, companies, governments and financial institutions to verify a person’s identity online.

It increased the speed of various processes and also helped people by eliminating the need to carry their important documents and certificates everywhere. There are various methods and systems for identity verification services.

The ID verification process can be done in different ways depending on the channel and the way the validation is performed.

Basic Concept and Different Methods of Online ID Verification

Basically, digital or online identity verification compares the presented data with the verified data set to verify if a person is who they say they are. So, any ID verification system/service at first requires the data or document to check its legitimacy.

Then the system compares the presented data with the verified data and if both matched they will pass a message that the document is authenticated and legitimate and if both didn’t match, the system will warn the user and also inform the relevant authorities.

There are many different methods of digital identity verification, all of which work in different ways. These methods include:

  • ID Document Verification: Checks that the ID (eg, driving license, passport, government ID) is valid.
  • Biometric Verification: Uses a selfie to establish that the person presenting the ID is the person whose image appears on the ID.
  • Liveness Detection: Detecting spoofing attacks, such as face masks, or photos of photos, determines whether or not the selfie is real.
  • Knowledge-based Authentication (KBA): Generates an “out of wallet” question based on the information in the applicant’s personal credit file.
  • One-time Passcode (OTP) Verification: Transmits a single-use passcode to the applicant via SMS or email during the verification process.
  • Trusted Identity Network: Leverage existing credentials of the applicant with another provider to verify their identity and reduce friction during the account opening and onboarding process.
  • Database methods: Leverage data from social media, offline databases, and other sources to verify information submitted by the applicant.

How ID Verification Works?

The goal is to capture, extract, and analyze ID data to authenticate government-issued identification documents. This helps to find out what is real and what is fake.

Different systems and platforms have different procedures, but here is the process of ID verification or KYC.

  1. The user who wants to register goes to the website, app or platform of the company, organization or institute.
  2. Accepts use of camera and microphone to verify identity.
  3. Users have to upload or show the ID document on both sides and it will be recognized and verified.
    • For KYC: The user will also have to upload a pic / shows his face smiling on camera along with holding documents. If necessary, a team of qualified agents analyse the Picture or video in a separate process.
  4. The identity has been verified and the person’s credentials, as well as the person’s identity documents and video recorded with the face and the validation of the email and telephone, serve as proof that the user is what he or she says she is. The user is then registered by the company, app or organization.

Uses and Applications That Require Identity Verification

This process plays a vital role and provides complete protection in the following cases and situations:

  1. Bank account opening, banking and any type of financial process or online sale and purchase.
  2. Making representations along with the purchase of products and services in insurance industries.
  3. Log-in process on web or apps, second-factor authentication, access to facilities and buildings, tourism check-in, customer and user registration & more.
  4. To renew or issue electronic certificates, to renew ID documents, identification procedures to create electronic government certificates or procedures related to medical applications and health or prescription drugs.
  5. Travelling abroad or starting a new job.

Regulations and Standards of Identity Verification

AML5 or 5AMLD (the fifth anti-money laundering directive) and eIDAS (electronic identity, authentication and trust services) are regulations that create and maintain standards and norms regarding the use and forms of online identity validation services.

AML5 aims to fight fraud identity forgery, money laundering & terrorist financing, while eIDAS controls all aspects regarding electronic signatures, trust services & electronic transactions online.

These European rules and regulations are strict and through, offering identity verification procedures that comply with them with guaranteed security and reliability support. They are references to international regulatory frameworks in all countries regarding procedures for remotely verifying identities.

What about Certificate Verifier?

Certificate Verifier is a secure and robust online certificate verification system, where you can get your certificate verified with ease.

Started with a very basic purpose of revolutionizing the traditional method of certificate verification, Certificate Verifier is a modern day certificate verification website where you can upload your certificate after simply filling in some basic details and then we will verify it and You will receive an email with the appropriate authentication details of your certificate.

Not just for an individual, our platform can work in a multi-directional manner as we fully tailored it to the needs of institutions and companies, who have to check numerous identity documents as part of their activities. So visit our website and verify your documents now!