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Introducing Biometric Authentication

Unifying identity verification and secure user logins

If users have been asked to scan their face for identity verification during onboarding, why can’t they do the same for future transactions and biometric login? We launched Biometric Authentication (Passbase Authentication) to bring the same face scan convenience that smartphone users enjoy to unlock their phones for online businesses and services.

Consumers are becoming more accustomed to face and fingerprint scans to unlock their smartphones and authorize transactions. While many online businesses now require facial scans for identity verification during user onboarding or biometrics to verify users, they have yet to unlock the key potentials of Biometric Authentication. If a customer has proven their identity once with a selfie and document verification, then why can they not use a selfie again to do authentication?

With Passbase Authentication, companies can create a convenient and secure way for customers to access their accounts, without the risk of using text-based passwords and inconvenience of added security measures such as OTPs. Product teams can also use Passbase Authentication to seamlessly build Customer Due Diligence (CDD) into their user flow for AML regulatory compliance and reporting requirements. Passbase Authentication not only helps businesses with identity verification, but to secure their transactions and build trust with their users.

Reduce fraud by using biometrics to verify users on your product again

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If you enable Passbase Authentication, your end users will have a secure way for biometric login and to authorize transactions, such as transfers or checkouts, without passwords and OTPs.

A user who enters an email address that has already been verified and approved will automatically enter the Passbase Authentication flow, which only asks users for the required information. This means that returning users will be able to skip the start screen, Terms & Conditions, and instructions to immediately take a selfie video. When the face in the video matches the face in the records, and they do not need additional identity verification documents, they will be authenticated and able to access their account or perform their transactions.

When the user’s face matches the face data behind the e-mail, the system checks the user’s previously submitted documents to see if there are any missing identity verification steps. These documents can include official photo IDs, such as a passport, driver’s license, national ID card, insurance card scan, as well as a proof of address. If additional documents need to be submitted, such as scanning an insurance card, the user can submit them to complete the authentication process. If the documents are already stored, then the user can skip the ID card scanning process and be authenticated.

For security reasons, a user can attempt a video selfie 3 times before they see a failure notification and authentication module is automatically closed.

Serve end users on any device across the world

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Passbase Authentication is supported by the latest web and mobile SDKs (see supported versions below), allowing your end users to smoothly authenticate cross-platform from web to mobile or reversed, by re-using the biometrical datapoints of their face.

In addition, Passbase Authentication is available in 15 languages including Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. We are also working on adding more languages soon!

Get visibility into verifications and authentications

Passbase dashboard displaying a list of identity verification and authentication events with time stamps

Teams using Passbase Authentication can see successful authentications on Passbase dashboard along with other key events. This information helps teams refine their fraud prevention because they can note the frequency, details of an authentication attempt, and also adjust acceptance thresholds.

Authentications are recorded in the Passbase dashboard Events, History, and Timeline sections. This gives both developers and teams managing identity verifications more context to provide better customer service and or to flag suspicious behavior for fraud.

Non-technical team members also have contextual information to handle various scenarios, such as when an authentication has failed multiple times and may need support. It also provides key information for team members following up on cases. In each identity timeline, an event also includes details on Completion Time, Checks, SDK, Device, Location, IP Address, Geo Location, Browser so that teams can note any abnormal behavior.

Passbase identity timeline displaying initial identity verification and accepted verification by an administrator with details on time and IP address

Integrate authentications into your workflow with webhooks

Development teams can also make use of webhooks to receive Passbase Authentication notifications directly in their own workflows and dashboards.

Companies using Passbase can receive a webhook called identity authenticated once a user has been authenticated. This webhook can be added in Integration and Settings. This webhook is also available in the webhook logs. When the identity authenticated webhook is fired, it is displayed in Webhooks.

Development teams can test this webhook by adding it to a new or existing webhook within the developer dashboard. This webhook only displays in the developer dashboard if the project has Passbase Authentication enabled.

Below is an example of the display format:

Passbase identity authenticated webhook displaying data format

Passbase has guides for handling webhooks with Firebase Cloud Functions, in Node.js, and calling the Passbase API with server-side libraries in Javascript, Python, Java, Go, Ruby, and PHP.

Get started

Passbase Authentication is currently available to clients who request this feature to be enabled and do not need to make any changes to their client-side SDKs to integrate the feature. You can contact our contact our sales team or Passbase Support if you are an existing client. We have a lineup of resources for you to get started with Passbase Authentication.

This feature is available for SDK versions:

  • Mobile (iOS / Android): 2.1.8
  • Web SDK: 3.1.14
  • React Native: 2.1.8
  • Flutter: 2.1.8

We are thrilled to have powered the growth of diverse companies powered by Passbase’s identity verification engine, including ones in FinTech, cryptocurrency, real estate, ecommerce, and healthtech amongst others.

Identity verification has always been important, but securing digital identities has become paramount. As services continue to digitalize, more marketplaces and platforms remain to be built and re-using biometrics to verify users should continously be explored. We look forward to building the most robust, scalable, and adaptable identity verification solutions, from no-code to customizable APIs, along the way.

We thank our clients for their continuous feedback on useful features and early adopter clients. If you have any questions, get in touch!

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KI VERBAND

Passbase is an identity verification solution that makes facial recognition, liveness detection, ID verification and KYC and AML compliance accessible through a suite of flexible developer tools. A zero-knowledge architecture ensures that companies using Passbase can securely verify users from over 190 countries without having to store their data. Built for developers, it can be integrated with just a few lines of code on iOS, Android, and Web.