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Using a person’s face to authenticate themselves is something that humans have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. New technological developments have changed the way we interact with each other, and companies in particular benefit from these advancements to verify identity. Those previous pillars of personal and digital authentication, such as knowledge-based authentication (KBA), no longer provide adequate protection against fraud.
Why? Just as technology advances, so does fraud. Facial biometric technology has become the foundation that businesses and consumers rely on to verify their identities. In this article, we list the top five reasons why facial biometrics can help your business.
Related: The importance of accurate facial recognition
Table of Contents
1. It is very accurate and can stop fraud
Facial biometrics provide businesses with a high degree of confidence that the customer is a legitimate user and who they claim to be. The authentication process is streamlined in a way that passwords and traditional two-factor authentication (2FA) never could be – all users have to do is look at their device or another camera to prove their identity.
In addition to being very difficult for fraudsters to compromise due to the accuracy of facial recognition technology, the leading algorithms now also produce almost no bias, thus outperforming manual human review. In fact, inside a recent study of facial recognition algorithms, NIST found that the technology could identify passengers boarding an aircraft with 99.5% accuracy. In addition, this success rate (for the top facial recognition algorithms) was the same regardless of demographics, meaning that race or gender had no significant impact on accuracy.
This level of accuracy can have a significant impact on a company’s ability to combat various types of fraud. For example, when creating an account, companies can have a lot more confidence that the user is real through identity confirmation (as long as they match the selfie with liveness detection and an authentic government-issued ID). It can also prevent account takeover fraud; SMS-based 2FA is notoriously easy to interceptand modern algorithms are getting better at removing advanced 3D masks or the like face fake hacks.
2. It’s easy for users
Facial biometrics can also be applied effortlessly by users. Customers are easily turned off by clunky authentication measures like KBA, especially if they are required multiple times during a transaction. It’s much easier to look at your camera and take a selfie instead of entering a password or receiving a text message.
Facial biometrics are also gaining wider acceptance by the general population. As privacy and accuracy concerns are addressed and corrected, this technology will continue to gain widespread adoption. While using any biometric method is better than not using it at all, there’s a reason why all of our devices have moved to facial biometrics for unlocking: Simply put, it’s easier for the user. Businesses can take advantage of this growing adoption and make the user experience simpler and more secure in one step, leading to happier customers.
Related: How biometric solutions are shaping workplace safety
3. It creates strong acceptance
More and more companies are adopting strict underwriting practices to combat fraud and comply with legal requirements. Friendly fraud is a high cost for modern businesses. Unfortunately, fraudsters may attempt to claim a legitimate purchase, subscription renewal, or account change fraudulently and request a chargeback of their payment. Merchants mostly bear the brunt of this fraud when they can’t prove their identity, but facial recognition can significantly reduce its occurrence.
Like an eyewitness at the scene of a crime, facial biometrics provide companies with a timestamped, verified image of a person making a transaction. When someone tries to dispute a charge, that company has irrefutable proof that the person did indeed make the purchase. This is also important to comply with legal requirements and even to protect companies from fines and lawsuits. It also provides solid evidence in the event of future audits of a customer’s account or purchase history.
4. It can reduce operational costs
Facial biometrics can reduce operational costs by eliminating the need for today’s labor-intensive security checks used to confirm a customer’s identity for suspicious purchases, wire transfers, or account changes. This includes texting or emailing a customer and even calling them to make sure they are the ones behind the event. These customer service costs can quickly add up, not to mention you’re giving your users more chances to experience poor customer service and opening your business up to fraud via man-in-the-middle attacks.
In addition, the number of analysts required to review, monitor and even correct trades has increased dramatically. The LexisNexis 2022 True Cost of Fraud study has now calculated that for every $1 in fraud losses, it actually costs the company $3.75 due to an increase in fraud volume, new digital payment methods, and the high cost of replacing and redistributing goods.
Facial biometrics make all of this obsolete. Companies can eliminate significant operational costs and save time and resources for their fraud teams simply by pairing a quick selfie with liveness detection. You can rest assured that the person is who they say they are with a high degree of certainty, and your team no longer has to waste time analyzing transactions or unlocking accounts.
Related: Full Guide to Understanding Facial Biometrics: Should You Be Afraid?
5. It is device agnostic
Finally, facial biometrics can be implemented without regard to customer devices because it is device agnostic. As long as a device has a camera, it can perform the necessary facial authentication functions. There’s no need for fingerprint scanners or microphones in loud, crowded spaces; these cameras are small, inexpensive and can be installed at any kiosk where such transactions take place. In addition, even low-cost cameras can provide accurate facial recognition with modern algorithms. It also helps that almost everyone has a high-quality camera in their pocket via their mobile device.
People use facial recognition every day to identify others. It’s been a strange century, where our move to digital has outpaced the technology of continuing to use faces. However, we are quickly moving past that limitation and facial biometrics are a trusted gateway for companies to verify the identity of their customers. It’s time to make the move, and companies that can fully implement facial authentication will reap the rewards.
