Today’s security experts are laser-focused on finding solutions that protect their identity-focused attack surfaces. As companies continue development on solutions to create a secure and convenient customer experience, many have turned to biometric verification as an alternative to the traditional username/password protection layer.
But here’s the catch - a majority of these companies are not properly leveraging this new and exciting technology, and leaving their clients open to bad actors.
When business owners ask us at Nametag if biometric technology really lives up to the hype, we say yes, because we believe in the power of Multi-Factor Identity solutions. But we recognize that some firms have fallen short in their execution. We want to identify some of those process gaps for you today, and show you how companies are using Nametag to fill those gaps.
Why Master Passwords Don't Work
If you’re shopping for solutions to secure and verify your digital identity, you might run into companies like ID.me, which will claim to use your biometric data to secure and simplify account access.
But when you sit down for a conversation with these firms, ask them, “Does your solution actually tie a user’s biometrics to their actual accounts?”
While solutions like ID.me do promise to use biometric technology to streamline your user experience, in many cases their offering is a combination of facial recognition and legacy technology that leaves users vulnerable.
In ID.me’s case, they’ll scan your ID once, and link it to an ID.me account to start offering authentication. This leaves users open to bad actors, who just need a user’s login details to pass an ID check when it’s requested and access critical accounts.
This solution goes against data expert recommendations that organizations not rely on static digitized credentials for authentication.
To make matters worse, facial recognition technology hasn’t advanced to the point that it can consistently log you into accounts. In recent years, studies indicate that the facial recognition technology behind these solutions frequently fail to recognize women and people of color, unfairly prolonging the amount of time it takes to process login requests, and potentially blocking people’s access to critical resources.
At Nametag, we want to help our clients shrink their digital footprints. We don’t require users to sign up or download any new apps in order to leverage our continuous, real-time identity verification.
Pressure on Customer Support
Unfortunately, these limitations can create significant delays for customers, who might need to wait longer to be processed, deal with account blocks, or even lose access to their accounts altogether. Just to give one example, these lockouts would be devastating for users that rely on facial recognition or biometric data to access government services or their bank accounts.
And these difficulties don’t just negatively impact a customer’s experience - there’s a real toll it takes on support teams.
In the event that an identity check fails, ID.me prompts users to complete a chat with their support representatives to complete their identity checks, placing their staff in a high-pressure environment and on time-consuming calls where representatives are struggling to meet the high standards the company has set for itself.
To support overworked and struggling customer support centers, the Nametag team has been developing a no code, out-of-the-box portal to make identity verification easier for reps and to create a faster and more convenient experience for customers.
Conclusion
Ultimately, customers and users deserve a security-first solution that is purpose-built to provide decentralized identity verification designed to match a user to their government ID in real time.
Unlike other companies pivoting to identity-based authentication, Nametag’s solutions are built from the ground up with a singular focus on providing a “Sign In with ID” solution that is based off recommended best practices to mitigate a user base’s risk of identity-based attacks.
And we don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. To learn more about how Nametag can help your team, you can book a demo here.
