If customers can open an account with your business, then it is in your best interest to make sure you know who you are dealing with. Without proper verification, you could be opening up your business to fraud, especially if you offer free trials, or you may even become a tool for nefarious actions like some banks were back during the 9/11 crisis.
Improving the verification process is in the best interest of your company and of your customers, but security questions and an email verification won’t cut it anymore.
A person’s digital identity can easily be backed and sold online through the dark web. Information like their first school, their grandmother’s maiden name – all of this can be straightforward to find and source through different digital catalogues. That is why you need to go beyond the simple verification steps and look into implementing:
Two Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication should be seen as the minimum of what your company should do. If you work in banking or deal with other such sensitive data, then two-factor authentication is not enough.
The benefits of two-factor authentication are that a hacker would need two different types of identity. One, personal information or information from their digital identity. Two, their phone. While one or the other isn’t enough to keep an account secure, both can help reduce risk. For high-profile targets like banks, however, it is not enough.
Ideally, these institutions will use a combination of biometrics, machine learning, and ID verification.
Biometrics
Biometrics is one of the best ways to confirm the identity of a customer or employee. It is often a big step to take for many businesses, but for those who must adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) laws like banks, it should be seen as a bare minimum. KYC in banking for better protection needs to move away from simple password protection or even an object, like a badge.
Machine Learning
Machine learning is essential when it comes to understanding customer behaviour. Without this standard, it will be impossible to determine when an outlier behaviour occurs. Banks, in particular, will need to use Machine Learning to automate protections.
If a customer’s card is cloned, for example, machine learning will be able to spot the uncharacteristic purchases and put a hold on the account until the customer can verify the transactions.
Government ID Verification
When it comes to setting up an account, it is wise to require government ID verification. Many companies now need this, and it isn’t just banks or government institutions. For any business where customers owning multiple accounts is not in your best interest requiring government ID verification is a smart way to police it.
Customer verification needs to improve, and a mixture of measures both when creating and when logging in should be implemented for maximum security. Banks, educators, governments, and all other similar businesses that need real people to create accounts, not bots or duplicates, will benefit from these increased measures.