Jumio Unveils Identity Verification With Biometrics For Microsoft Azure

California-based Jumio said its artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled identity verification offerings are now available to Microsoft Azure Active Directory External Identities for business-to-consumer (B2C) clients. The technology allows for a biometric and instinctive method of verifying new clients prior to the time that they receive login information, according to an announcement.

Jumio has a user take an image of government-issued identification along with a selfie of him or himself from a mobile phone or webcam to verify his or her identity. The requirement of a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license creates a formidable “trust anchor” that is applicable at a later point in time for all following verification events.

The “trust anchor” is made strong with biometrics — by linking the face in the selfie of the user to an image on the ID — and “certified liveness detection” makes sure that the individual who offers the form of identification is, in fact, physically there.

“Before giving carte blanche access to your application, it’s increasingly important to quickly verify the authenticity of online users, especially in light of recent, large-scale data breaches,” Jumio CRO Dean Hickman-Smith said in the announcement. “We help modern enterprises, such as Azure AD B2C customers, verify the identities of remote users, so that companies can confidently greenlight legitimate individuals and assign them the appropriate access privileges.”

Identity verification that uses biometric technology has swiftly come to the surface as a “best practice,” according to the announcement. Jumio says Gartner suggests identity proofing methods that depend on “shared secret verification” like memorable personal information or out-of-wallet knowledge queries be discontinued.

Trust gains further dimensions in the evolving sharing economy as individuals make their real homes available to people they don’t know or rent accommodations from them.

Ensuring that you are being yourself is in the domain of ever more intelligent authentication infrastructure that verify those involved in a transaction and keeping things legitimate.

“Attracting more participants in the sharing economy requires that new and existing users feel comfortable sharing their homes, cars, assets or expertise,” Jumio Chief Product Officer Philipp Pointner previously told PYMNTS.