Mitek, Lightico Team On Secure Smartphone Text Transactions

Mitek, which offers digital identity verification services, has partnered with Lightico, which works in the field of identity verification and eSignatures, to provide a new way to complete transactions over a text message, a company blog post stated.

Lightico, using a secure platform, can allow businesses to “collect forms, documents, eSignatures, photos and payments, consent to disclosures and verify identities instantly via text, even while the customer is on the phone,” the post stated.

Lightico uses Mitek’s Mobile Verify with Face Compare to authenticate the identity of those using its service, which provides security, the post stated. It also uses Mitek’s Mobile Fill for the same purpose.

Identity verification has been a point of thorny contention as the world has moved more into the digital age, due to the immense potential for fraud to occur, PYMNTS reported last year. Stephen Ritter, Mitek’s chief technology officer, said gig economy apps are particularly ripe for it due to their popularity. He contested that, while ridesharing apps are more convenient than the old ways of doing things, the quick, easy identification process means it’s also easy for fraudsters to take advantage.

He said no company can truly eliminate all fraud, but it’s possible to mitigate it as much as possible, particularly as customers continue to become more wary of their data falling into the wrong hands.

To mitigate the risk of fraud, Ritter said some of the speed and ease of the gig economy companies might have to be compromised, using more layers of security, including multiple points of ID verification and photographs of important documents.

Ritter also spoke of a “funnel” approach in which customers can be let in with little trouble more than an email entry, so long as their information doesn’t raise any red flags. New artificial intelligence (AI)-powered ID verification is sometimes so good that it becomes one of the better ways to verify someone’s identity.

Sanjay Gupta, Mitek vice president and head of Product and Corporate Development, said Lightico and Mitek both share the same goals of trying to make digital transactions “secure, effortless, efficient,” the blog post stated.