Over the last few decades, improving digital security has been a goal for companies around the world. With the amount of fraud that takes place every year, it’s easy to see why.
According to data from Statista, there were over 1829 cyber attacks on the financial sector in 2022. Increased focus on cyber security has brought that number down from the previous year, which saw 2,527 attacks. However, 2021 was anomalous as it saw the largest number of cyber-attacks over the last eight years.
Unfortunately, cyber-attacks and fraudulent practices are becoming more common in many industries. Hackers are aware of the amount of money that can be earned with identity theft and other forms of cybercrime.
In this context, identity verification has a surprisingly important role to play. Let’s explore this further.
Table of Contents
What Is Identity Verification?
At its core, identity verification aims to ascertain that individuals are who they say they are.
Organizations and businesses offer many services that can be expensive or specialized for a certain need or entity. With so many transactions happening virtually, it becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain customer or client identity.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. There are many instances where identity verification can be demanded, but it isn’t worth the effort.
For instance, participating in online discussions and forums or browsing online stores. Identity verification can be forced in these situations, but there is no real reason to do so.
You likely use several forms of identity verification every day without even knowing it. 2FA, or Two-factor Authentication, is one of the most common yet highly effective verification systems that is currently used. Other forms of verification include device recognition, IP address, and biometric verification.
More recently, we are also seeing the increasing use of machine learning and audit trails. They help look at who accessed what information, the manner in which it was accessed, and when. This can help create a solid baseline that could possibly verify a person’s identity in the future.
Identity Verification In Healthcare
A lot of people like to keep their medical information confidential. It can be extremely personal in certain situations, and unauthorized access can be detrimental to them in many ways.
For these and other reasons, patients are often given an identification number that is linked to their medical information. Reusable digital IDs from AU10TIX are a favorite in this context because one ID can be used for multiple purposes. With one secure ID, medical history records, prescriptions, billing, and more can be accessed easily.
AU10TIX states that in a world where document cloning has become prevalent, it becomes imperative to know what is real. This applies so much to the healthcare industry, where fraudsters can misuse confidential and personal information.
Hospitals have a moral and legal obligation to ensure that patient information is shared only with them. Identity verification also protects hospitals from being held liable by preventing data breaches and medical identity theft.
Identity Verification in Finance
Banks, investment firms, and other financial institutions can be adversely affected if they lack proper identity verification systems. Money laundering, fraud, and unauthorized transactions are challenges that these institutions often have consistent issues with.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated that in 2022, over 110,000 cases of fraud were committed with stolen identities. Several aspects of finance and banking can be susceptible to fraud. This includes wire transfers, borrowing money, account openings, and even in-person cashing.
Financial institutions are under legal obligations to ensure that client information remains safe and secure. Identity verification systems are one of many ways that this is achieved.
Conclusion
Identity verification is going to be one of the most important aspects of the modern world. It is a subject that has implications in more ways than you can imagine. Just recently, Sam Altman, co-founder of the revolutionary ChatGPT, launched the Worldcoin project.
People around the world have been allowing their irises to be scanned in order to become recipients of cryptocurrency. It is a little frightening, don’t you think? Private companies recording your biometrics in exchange for cryptocurrency is something straight out of a cyberpunk world. Are we really ready for this?
All this only underlines how important it will be to ensure your identity remains secure. We are likely to see more companies try to cash in on identity verification in the coming years. Personal vigilance and prudence will soon become extremely important in our lives.
