September 7 2021
A wide variety of methods are available to authenticate users remotely, ranging from passwords and one-time passcodes (OTPs), to fingerprint scanning and face authentication.
Each relies on a different factor to establish trust:
In recent years organizations have started to move away from knowledge-based authentication. Passwords are not secure, because they can be shared, guessed or stolen. Passwords also cause user frustration, because they are easily forgotten. This ultimately leads to drop-off and poor completion rates. You can read more about the end of passwords here.
Instead, organizations are moving toward passwordless solutions. Biometric forms of authentication use something you are to prove your identity. These are convenient—you always have your face with you, for example—and while they can be copied (using a photo), they cannot be stolen. And in the case of iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance, biometric authentication technology can deliver the highest levels of security and inclusivity.
Authentication is needed to securely identify your online users. It’s most commonly used when logging into an account or authorizing a financial transaction remotely, for example. Ultimately, authentication is needed to restrict and allow access to personal information and accounts. As the demand for remote services grows, and cybercrime increases, so does the demand for secure authentication online.
Secure user authentication…
But which authentication method is the right or “best” authentication method for you?
For your users, the best authentication method will be something that offers convenience, speed, and reassurance. For your organization, the best solution will deliver the appropriate level of security, high completion rates, and will be inclusive to the largest number of customers or citizens.
The things you need to consider include:
Next, we’ll review some of the most popular authentication methods that organizations employ to secure their systems.
Facial authentication uses a face scan done by a human on any device with a front-facing camera to prove they are who they say they are. For face authentication to be secure, it needs to verify that the user is the right person, a real person, and that they are authenticating right now. This is what iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance technology delivers.
Some other forms of face authentication use single images to match a physical face to a trusted image, but they can be spoofed by “presentation attacks”, including photographs shown to the device’s camera. iProov technologies use multiple frames to securely determine the authenticity of an individual.
Facial authentication has many advantages over other biometric methods. One is that everyone has a face, and most government-issued ID documents have a photo but don’t include fingerprint or other biometric data. This means that a user could scan their identity document using their mobile device and then scan their face to prove that they are who they claim to be—completing an entire verification process all from the comfort of their couch.
Face authentication can also be done on general-purpose hardware. Any smartphone or computer or other devices with a user-facing camera can support face authentication, while fingerprint or iris scans need specialist hardware.
This transforms the way that governments and enterprises can securely verify the identity of online users. Citizens can apply for bank accounts, credit cards, healthcare, tax, or any other secure service without needing to visit a physical building for an identity check.
Face authentication and verification are sometimes referred to as “face recognition”—but these are completely different technologies. Learn the difference between verification and recognition here.
Fingerprint authentication compares a user’s fingerprint to a stored template to validate a user’s identity. Fingerprints are complex and unique, which makes them impossible to guess. They are also convenient to use on a smartphone or other device that has the capability to read a fingerprint.
There are limitations with fingerprint authentication. Firstly, because not everyone has a fingerprint scanner on their device, fingerprint authentication is not an accessible and inclusive method for all. It’s a method limited to those who own more expensive devices.
And, just like passwords, there are security concerns. Fingerprints can be copied using silicon rubber, plus they can be hacked on most devices in around 20 minutes. Fingerprint authentication can be good for low-risk scenarios where quick access is needed but it lacks the accessibility of other methods such as face authentication.
Voice authentication measures the physical and behavioral markers in a user’s speech to confirm their identity. Using all the information in human speech enables an effective means of authentication that works on a phone or video call.
Voice has become a popular form of verification with financial institutions but is prone to background noise, can be overheard, and can be spoofed by a recording or deepfake.
SMS One-Time Passcodes (OTPs) are unique, time-based codes that are sent to the phone number tied to a user’s account. OTPs prove possession of a device/SIM—something you have—because only one person should have access to their SIM and text messages.
There are a number of issues with this form of authentication.
Passwords are ubiquitous, and the authentication method we’re most familiar with. But they’re not secure. They’re often forgotten, stolen, lost, or shared—as we highlighted in our flagship report, The End of Password. Plus, our research has found that consumers are growing increasingly frustrated with passwords, causing them to abandon their baskets when they forget them.
Passwords, and knowledge-based authentication in general, suffers a fatal flaw: the more secure you make it, the less accessible it is for users. The passwords that fraudsters cannot guess or hack are also harder for people to remember. And as we create more and more accounts, it becomes harder and harder to remember them all. Other threat vectors such as brute force attacks and credential stuffing are a big concern too.
Our previous research also found that over 50% of users have abandoned purchases because they forget their password and retrieving it took too long, so there’s a clear commercial penalty here.
This ubiquity makes passwords the common choice for authentication. But the truth is that passwords are better used in conjunction with other more secure and effortless methods of authentication, such as face authentication. These applications include multi-factor authentication and step-up authentication. However, one strong authentication is better than two weak ones.
Here at iProov, we provide biometric face verification to some of the world’s most secure organizations to enable them to authenticate online users.
Consumers prefer methods that do not add additional complexity or effort to their services, transactions, and accounts. So, we eliminated the complexity—while still retaining national-grade security. This enables you to onboard and authenticate customers and users, with the minimal number of steps for users.
iProov’s biometric authentication provides:
And that’s why some of the world’s most security-conscious organizations, including…
…choose iProov to verify, authenticate, and onboard their users.
If you’d like to see the benefits of using face authentication to secure and streamline user authentication for your organization, book your demo here. You can read up further on our customers and case studies here.