Digital Identity Verification

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As I prepare for my presentation at the Code Europe Conference, I’m diving into various aspects of Identity Verification. Let’s kick things off, with a quick overview of what Identity Verification entails.

Identity Verification is the process of validating an individual's identity using various methods and technologies to ensure that they are who they claim to be.

There are several methods of Identity Verification, including:

  • Biometric Verification
    • Fingerprint Recognition
    • Facial Recognition
    • Iris Scanning
  • Verification through Government Portals
    • Trusted Profile (Profil Zaufany) in Poland
    • Login.gov in USA
    • Aadhaar in India
  • Hardware Tokens and Software
  • Digital Signatures and Certificates
  • Document + Selfie/Video Verification

In this series of posts, I’ll be focusing on the last mentioned type: Document + Selfie/Video Verification. Here, the user utilizes their document (e.g., ID card, passport, or driving license) and smartphone to capture a photo of the document and a selfie or video of themselves.

The goal of Identity Verification in this scenario includes:

  • Document Authentication
    • Confirming the document’s authenticity to prevent forgery
    • Validating the document’s expiration date
  • Selfie/Video Authentication
    • Ensuring the selfie or video depicts a real, live face and not a digital creation or mask
  • Facial Matching
    • Comparing the photo from the document with the selfie/video to verify the person’s identity

So, how do we achieve this? Advanced Biometric and Document Authentication Algorithms play a crucial role, such as:

  • Facial Recognition Algorithms
    • Eigenfaces
    • Local Binary Patterns Histograms (LBPH)
    • Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)
  • Document Authentication Algorithms
    • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for data extraction
    • Digital Image Processing techniques for forgery detection
    • NFC Chip Reading: Extracting data from the NFC chip embedded in documents

However, rather than developing these complex algorithms myself, I opt to leverage ready-to-use solutions from Digital Identity Providers. Why?

  • Biometric and document verification algorithms are intricate and demand specialized knowledge.
  • Integrating with trusted vendors ensures the highest accuracy and security in identity verification.
  • This allows me to focus on application and user experience, rather than getting lost in algorithm development.

Stay tuned for the next posts, where I’ll introduce several Digital Identity Providers and explore their capabilities further.

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