Embracing remote digital services: convenience vs security!

The pandemic has turned the world upside down. Things we thought would never happen have happened in the blink of an eye: Nearly everybody that can is working from home; Conferences are attended remotely; Doctors appointments are booked over the phone or on video calls; Students enrolling in remote learning from primary schools to universities. All of these things were technically possible before the pandemic but we hadn’t found the reason to make them happen.

The flip side of this is we have fast-forwarded 10 years of digital adoption but we haven’t adjusted the security protections at the same pace.

We haven’t provided the right education to the average citizen on how to live in this fully digital world. The result is, on the positive side, a surge in technology adoption, huge efficiencies gained and a fantastic increase in digital tools increasing productivity. On the negative side, criminals are also adopting digital tools to gain an advantage.

The number of fraud attempts an average citizen is facing per day is staggering. The number of successful online crimes is at the highest level ever. At the top of these new online crimes is Account Takeover Fraud, from social media to bank accounts. People are losing huge amounts with little chance of finding the criminals or recovering their money or hacked accounts.

When you offer digital technology to access personal services (health, finance, learning, etc.) there are 2 main elements to consider: Convenience and security.

Convenience is key when you want to increase adoption, in that case, security is usually reduced in favor of increased usage. The reality is the pandemic has made many of these services mandatory to most of us. We cannot make a face-to-face appointment with a doctor anymore or go in person to our bank to make a transaction. We are obliged to do it remotely so wider remote adoption occurs naturally. In this context, however, security shouldn’t be compromised as the personal consequences of being hacked are enormous.

The correct balance between convenience and security brings the best outcome. How can this be achieved?

It is achieved when the security element of the puzzle puts the user in the center. That is what we are doing in Folio, making a highly secure tool that is also convenient for the user. Our IDV as a service (IDVaaS) is designed to ensure companies and government entities can easily verify the identity of their users or citizens.

Our multi-channel approach gives users choice and accessibility. This is vital as it keeps the convenience of services high on any device without compromising security. Our users can use different devices to verify their identity, from smartphones to PCs or tablets and they can effectively switch from one device to another if they need to.

For example, it may be easier and better quality to capture a selfie with their smartphone rather than their desktop device, but they could use either. They can use a one-time verification web application or the Folio mobile app to reuse their identity at any point in the future without the need to provide all their information again.

All this without compromising the user’s privacy as Folio doesn’t store personal information on its servers, it is kept securely on their mobile devices (in the Folio mobile app) or it isn’t stored at all when using the Folio web interface.

IDVaaS is also convenient for relying parties, IDV requirements can be configured on the fly and adapted to different user segments in real-time. Being able to verify more than 9000 types of documents from more than 200 territories. Conducting passive liveness tests that use the same selfie for liveness detection and facial recognition creates a secure and convenient way of verifying customers’ and users identity.

All of it with an easy to deploy, easy to integrate cloud-based solution. Security, scale, and convenience mean everything to us at Folio.

This is why our solution set has been designed specifically around the user. To enhance security based on biometrics and at the same time remove reliance on password authentication.

To deliver frictionless multichannel access, providing simplicity, security and convenience when accessing remote services.

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