Our Digital Identity

In today’s digital world, identity verification is becoming increasingly important as the threat of identity fraud continues to grow. In 2017, there were more than 1,200 data breaches, with more than 2 billion separate identities stolen. Already in the first half of 2018, identity theft and synthetic identity attacks have more than doubled from Q4 of 2017. Traditional identity verification uses static rules and linear models applied to credit bureau data, which is often stale and easily accessible to fraudsters because, if we’re being honest, your birthday, Social Security number, and mother’s maiden name have already most likely been leaked in some previous data breach. So with these kinds of numbers, it’s clear that companies must rethink how best to originate user accounts online and develop new approaches for verifying their users. 

My lovely wife taught math for years. She’s passionate about her subject, which is why she’s very sought after as a tutor for everyone from little kids to grad students. I think what she loves about math is the fact that it’s so absolute. It’s either right or wrong, and it unlocks the secrets to how the universe works. There’s no subjectivity to it (unless you’re a political pollster), and numbers don’t lie (unless you were Enron’s accountant).

When we think of robots, fictional characters like R2-D2, Optimus Prime, Hal, or Bender might come to mind. But, today’s robots aren’t cute sidekicks, superheroes, or destructive forces—and they’re certainly not fictional. Last month, Socure’s founder and chief strategy officer, Sunil Madhu, talked with PYMNTS.com’s CEO Karen Webster about how the current process for identity verification is broken. Madhu discussed how machine learning, on the other hand, can significantly advance identity verification and how Socure’s proprietary robot, Aida, is already making great strides in this regard.

There is a famous saying that goes “Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist.”