Translated by Authme
From registration to instant confirmation, identity verification is an evolving challenge; failing to do it well can result in losing customers, and potentially money and credibility. In addition to adopting AI, Authme also participates in FIDO, incorporating Taiwanese experience into international standards and bringing it back.
With the global surge in AI, many Taiwanese companies have been focusing on AI development for a long time, achieving exciting results. For this reason, “Digital Times” in collaboration with the Department of Digital Development, organized the “2023 Taiwan AI Awards” to recognize influential Taiwanese teams and projects in the AI industry. Below is the story of the award-winning team, Authme:
Authme, an identity verification cybersecurity company, was founded in 2019 by two white-hat hackers, Andy Lee and Dalton Hsu. They are dedicated to solving the challenges of digital identity verification. The idea for establishing Authme originated when they set up a cryptocurrency exchange in 2016 and realized that current financial services faced many technical issues in identity verification.
For example, when users register for online banking, the process is not only cumbersome, requiring manual input of extensive personal data, but also, if the document photos are not good enough, the entire registration process might need to be redone. This led to some users being stuck in the identity verification stage, eventually giving up on registration.
Andy and Dalton recognized the importance of digital identity verification and thus incorporated artificial intelligence technology. Apart from document verification, they also integrated facial skin texture and blood flow detection to overcome potential deepfake challenges. Their solution has been adopted by brands such as LINE Bank, WeMo Scooter, and Amazing Talker.
Venture into the Financial Sector and Tackled the Highest Level of Product Demand
“After we invested in it, we discovered that the technological issues in identity verification are quite challenging and not easy to handle,” said Authme’s co-founder and CEO, Andy Lee, with a smile. The financial sector’s application has stringent requirements for legal and cybersecurity standards, and a product with only a 90% recognition rate is not acceptable. However, once passing the scrutiny of the financial industry, it also means gaining technical recognition. This will reduce resistance when entering other markets in the future.
Authme not only uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to alleviate the hassle of manually inputting document information but also combines it with a smartphone’s NFC (Near Field Communication) feature. This allows for reading the content of passport chips, and when paired with facial recognition technology, it can be used to determine if the passport photo matches the registering user. Additionally, Authme has incorporated live detection technology that can detect depth data between a face and its background, confirming that the user in front of the camera is a real, live person and not a stolen photo.
“Biometric recognition technology mainly verifies identity through ‘physiological characteristics’ and ‘behavioral characteristics’,” explains Andy Li Ji-Kuang. The most common biometrics include fingerprints, irises, voice patterns, and faces. However, obtaining fingerprints requires user contact with equipment, and publicly used sensors can easily get dirty; iris recognition needs high-resolution cameras that are not yet widespread and can be interfered with by contact lenses; voice pattern recognition requires high-quality audio files. Facial recognition, which can be completed on a smartphone, is a more convenient option for users.
Participating in the FIDO Alliance, Authme Aims to Enhance Taiwan’s Influence in the Digital World.
The FIDO Alliance (Fast IDentity Online Alliance), established in 2012, is a non-profit industry alliance with the goal of establishing identity verification standards to reduce the global over-reliance on “passwords.” “Authme participates in the FIDO Alliance in two ways: not only as a member of the FIDO Alliance but also by participating in the FIDO Alliance’s working groups,” says Andy Li Ji-Kuang.
Andy Lee also mentioned the importance of Authme’s involvement in the FIDO Alliance for Taiwan’s international participation: “By participating in the identity verification working group and discussing issues related to facial biometrics and document recognition, we can share Taiwan’s current status in identity verification with the international community. This allows us the opportunity to include the challenges we face into the specifications. By bringing these discussions back to Taiwan and discussing them with government agencies during the draft stage, we can establish responsive measures early. We believe this is very important for Taiwan.”
