February 27th, 2023
What to Know About Identity Verification
5 min read
Do you know who you’re hiring? With Certn identity verification, you can – instantly.
Why is identity verification important? Millions of personal data are stolen and misused every day. In fact, almost half (46%) of Canadians report having fallen victim to financial fraud at some point in their lives.
Sometimes this stolen data, commonly gleaned from online banking and retail websites according to the CPA Canada study referenced above, is used to apply for jobs and run fraudulent background checks. In remote-first and virtual hiring environments, it’s more important than ever to maintain high security and verify that your candidates are who they say they are with secure background screening, whether they’re in Canada or based abroad.
Adding biometric identity screening, like Certn OneID, to your background screening process before a background check can help you hire a remote and global workforce compliantly and with more confidence. It may also help improve your background check turnaround time.
Certn OneID uses biometric facial recognition technology via a simple online user experience to verify identity instantly. OneID supports 11,000+ government-issued identity documents (e.g., passports, drivers licences, photo ID cards, and more), including documents in non-Latin character alphabets. In fact, it supports 45 languages and dialects.
In the financial services industry the ID verification process is known as the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Our biometric identity screening service adheres to compliance requirements for KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance set out by Canada’s FINTRAC and European regulators.
Types of Identity Verification
Identity verification confirms a person’s identity. There are two main types of identity verification: knowledge-based authentication and biometric identity screening or biometric authentication.
Knowledge-Based Authentication
Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) establishes identity by asking users to provide correct answers to a series of personal questions. The information requested as part of KBA verification may be static or dynamic.
Static Personal Information
Static personal information includes things like your date of birth, your social insurance or social security number, or the name of your first pet.
Dynamic Personal Information
Examples of dynamic personal information, things that are more likely to change over time, include your address or the last purchase on a credit card.
Biometric Identity Screening
Biometric identity screening, or biometric authentication, replaces legacy KBA, one-time passwords, and email authentication. Biometric authentication verifies the identity of an individual by matching unique biometric features such as retina scans, fingerprinting, and facial recognition. The biometric facial recognition technology in OneID verifies the person’s identity instantly by matching their government-issued ID with a real-time selfie.
OneID also relies on practices such as liveness detection for anti-spoofing and we have a team dedicated to ensuring the technology’s accuracy, so you can have even more confidence that a person is who they claim to be. In other words, OneID is a fast and convenient way to verify candidates are who they say they are from the start, before fraud or data entry errors cause delays to your background check turnaround times.
How Is Identity Verified Online?
The biometric facial recognition technology in Certn OneID verifies the person’s identity instantly by comparing their government-issued ID with a real-time selfie to ensure it matches. The individual’s name is also compared against the name on their ID. Talk about convenient ID verification!
Benefits of Biometric Identity Screening
Identity verification is the first step in making sure that the candidate you’re running background screening on is who they say they are. Biometric identity screening as part of your background check and hiring process has three main benefits:
- Helps prevent fraud
- Saves time
- Facilitates a better candidate experience
Fraud Prevention
Identity verification sets the foundation for any background check by verifying exactly who candidates are from the start, preventing bad actors from causing damage. Since our lives are increasingly online, it’s more important than ever to be vigilant about biometric identity screening as part of your background screening.
A quarter of job applications contain inaccurate information. This misrepresentation could lead to a negligent hiring lawsuit. Certn’s instant identity verification is the first step in the Certn background check process, and its biometric authentication can give you added peace of mind.
In addition to mitigating identity fraud, identity verification can help speed up the background check process.
Saves Time
Not all time consuming mistakes are malicious. For example, done the old way, identity verification through manual data entry might lead to transcription errors (or transposing first and middle names) that could cause delays in the background screening process and require your candidate to show up in person to verify their identity.
A biometric identity screening process supported by a mobile-friendly, intuitive user experience also helps prevent errors in background check applications by automating the verification process with data extraction, data pre-fill, and automated document matching.
OneID removes the back and forth that comes with requesting documents or extra vetting for identity verification the manual way. After all, who has a scanner or printer these days?!
Better Candidate Experience
The manual way, identity verification is done by scanning and emailing identity documents, or worse: having candidates wait in line at the post office or police station. Biometric identity screening, like Certn’s OneID, is easier for the user and more secure than legacy solutions.
Your candidates deserve a fast, easy, mobile-friendly experience. To invite your candidate to complete a OneID verification, all you need is their email address.
Here’s how the ID verification process works:
From our web platform, you can add this verification to an Order or a Package. Or, you can order using Certn’s background check API.
- We ask your candidate to take a photo of their ID document (normally a driver’s licence or passport) with a webcam or smartphone
- We ask them to take a selfie with the same device
- That’s it
By using OneID, you can have more confidence in who you’re hiring and are more likely to avoid costly mistakes.
Reasons to Use OneID with Background Checks
OneID is a great tool to use with background checks to ensure you’re populating the forms with the right information and that you’re asking the right person to complete the background check.
OneID’s data extraction and data pre-fill functionality helps streamline hiring workflows. In addition to improving the accuracy of background screening by minimizing the likelihood of applicant error and streamlining workflows, OneID is ideal to use on candidates who don’t have an existing credit history.
Where is OneID Offered?
Certn’s OneID is available in North America and other countries around the world with the exception of the United Kingdom and Australia for candidates anywhere in the world.
How Does Identity Verification Work?
For the candidate or person you’re running the background screening on, it’s as easy as 1, 2, selfie.
Here’s what happens when you add OneID to your background screening:
- We ask your candidate to take a photo of their ID document (normally a driver’s licence or passport) with a webcam or smartphone
- We ask them to take a selfie with the same device
- That’s it
Email Invitation – A secure, encrypted link is emailed to your candidate. If Certn is integrated with your hiring platform, all this is initiated with one click from your “Packages” section in your dashboard.
Candidate Consent – The candidate clicks a button to consent to the background screening and uploads a selfie and a photo of their government-issued photo ID. Data pre-fill extracts this information which becomes the foundation for other screening like a background check.
Results – That’s it! The results are sent back to you as part of your background check report and the extracted information is used to make the background check process easier and more accurate.
Again, all the applicant has to do is upload a photo of a piece of government-issued ID and snap a selfie with a smartphone or other internet-enabled device. Certn’s technology takes care of the rest. OneID takes a few clicks and helps you stay one step ahead of tackling identity fraud.
Get Biometric Identity Screening Today
Certn’s OneID supports 11,000+ government-issued identity documents (e.g., passports, drivers licences, photo ID cards, and more) from over 190 countries and territories, including documents in non-Latin character alphabets.
With Certn’s OneID you can verify the identity of an individual by matching their face to their government-issued ID instantly and have the confidence you’re running a background check on the right person.
Book a demo to talk to one of our background screening experts about how you can integrate OneID into your background screening process.