Which is the Most Secure Authentication Method for Your Business?

The more efficient your methods of onboarding customers, the faster your business will experience growth, but speed is only one aspect of authentication.

To ensure your processes are safe, compliant and only allow ‘good’ customers through, security is paramount. But which is the right method for your business?

Methods of Identity Verification

Growing numbers of businesses and industries are requiring identity verification due to an increase in regulations. As well as businesses dealing with large amounts of money, if your business requires protection from fraud, needs to comply with AML regulations, is overspending on user onboarding or needs to verify the legal age of customers, you’ll inevitably need to use an identity verification provider. 

But there are a number of methods of identity verification and the best one for your business will depend on your industry and jurisdiction. Each method of authentication is referred to as a factor, and these can typically be divided into two groups: 

Possession factors; things the user has in their possession or can act on.

Biometric factors; things the user is. Biometrics include facial authentication or fingerprint scanning.

With ever-evolving forms of regulation, choosing the right form of identity verification which is both robust and compliant is becoming increasingly difficult. Here are the typical ways of authenticating customer identity:

• Government Issued Document Verification
• Biometric Matching
• Utility Bill Address Verification
• CRA ID Verification
• Digital Footprint Authentication
• Email/Mobile Authentication

The Most Secure Form of Identification

These factors are used to verify user identity and restrict access to anyone who isn’t who they claim to be. While they may feel secure enough on their own, there are pros and cons to all factors. Part of deploying a secure authentication process means understanding the risks posed by each factor, and combining them effectively to mitigate those risks. An adaptive approach that evaluates varying circumstances like network, demographic and location, amongst others can help align authentication factors to the risk level.

Businesses looking to employ a robust and efficient onboarding process should implement multi-factor authentication that assesses the risk of each unique login request, and selects authentication factors accordingly.

How We Can Help

Here at Acuant, we’ve developed a complete suite of automated solutions for all of the above methods of identification which meet the KYC and AML requirements of every regulated business.

Our comprehensive family of solutions means there is no need to manage multiple integrations from different providers. This approach helps increase pass rates in countries all over the world, verifying identities using a number of data sources, which in turn increases revenue, increases customer acquisition with real-time onboarding and creates a better customer experience. It can also help future-proof your business with the ability to switch on additional services as your requirements change.

Acuant’s one simple, global solution, Sodium enables customer verification in real-time. Utilise a single element or multiple processes – it’s entirely up to you. Learn more about how we can help to automate and simplify your verification processes to help you gain a better understanding of your customers. 

Book a demo today and see for yourself how powerful our suite of solutions are.