Producing a Next-Generation Security SaaS Solution to Combat the Growing Risk of Identity Theft and Related Fraud: Socure

“Our digital identity verification solutions can provide immediate benefits to any business transacting with consumers in the digital world.”

When co-founder Sunil Madhu immigrated to the states after many years in the UK and Europe, he was struck by how hard it was to get approved for basic things without an established credit history. It was as if he didn’t exist without a credit file. And he wasn’t alone.

Sunil joined the millions of people in the US who are “credit invisible,” which includes immigrants new to the country, anybody who’s ever had their identity stolen, the unbanked who may have little to no credit history, and millennials who got a late start.

As a millennial, Johnny Ayers was familiar with the unique challenges of a generation that entered the workforce during an economic crisis. Many were saddled with student loan debt and delaying the markers that once signified adulthood - like mortgages or cars.

Johnny and Sunil crossed paths at the General Assembly, where they began bouncing ideas about how to solve a problem that impacts millions of people. That’s when the idea of Socure born.

Based in NYC - Silicon Alley, Socure is a high-growth company that provides a real-time predictive analytics platform that combines the newest forms of machine learning and artificial intelligence with digital, offline and social identity data to deliver the most accurate and robust KYC, identity verification and fraud risk prediction solution in the market.

The company deploys its advanced identity verification robot across email, phone, online/social, address, IP, physical documents and traditional offline proprietary predictors to help clients better assess identity risk and substantially increase acceptance, reduce fraud losses, and optimize manual review/step-up authentication for transactions and applications in the digital world.

From a single RestFul API, Socure delivers best-of-breed email, phone, and address riskScore, NAPE correlation models, overall identity fraud risk prediction, KYC/CIP, AML Watchlist and physical document verification services.

The Socure Solution: ID+ for Consumer Verification

ID+™ is the first solution to blend trusted online and offline data for real-time identity verification using sophisticated, patented, and proven machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

It provides the most accurate identity verification solution on the market by providing the broadest coverage of data sources available, which enables more financial inclusion for the underbanked and millennial market. ID+ integrates instantly into existing on-boarding or ID verification processes, providing the cornerstone of a solid KYC/CIP program.

ID+ passively uses the personally identifiable information (PII) data provided in an existing application process such as name, address, email, and phone, along with IP information to confirm that the identity being used is valid and belongs to the person entering it.

ID+ blends online and offline data to create a complete footprint of a consumer's digital identity, and then uses advanced data science to predict whether that information is being used in an authentic manner.

Socure’s 3.0 platform features a modular design and includes a single API to handle digital to physical identity verification. The combination of digital identity verification with an optional physical document authentication provides the greatest level of assurance achievable that an identity is valid, belongs to the user being verified and is risk-free.

The Socure Technology: Authenticate Real People Instantly With the First Identity Verification Bot Built For Digital Trust

The Problem: Identity Crisis

The Internet enables us to move seamlessly between the physical and virtual worlds, but how do we know who’s behind the screen?

In the past, businesses have relied on static credit bureau data to confirm identity, but now much of that personal data is easily searchable online or has been exposed in breaches, providing ineffective data security. If digital businesses require customers to verify identity in person, customers usually abandon the transaction and go elsewhere.

Looking Beyond: Socure's Solution

That’s why Socure created Aida, a patented identity verification bot that continuously sources live digital data, correlates thousands of data points online and offline, and then uses the power of machine learning to create a holistic, accurate customer identity model. Aida learns a customer’s identity from their digital breadcrumbs and calculates a risk score. This empowers businesses to make smarter decisions about their customers and gives consumers a portable identity that can be used to secure services.

Use Cases

Socure’s clients span multiple industries, including some of the largest and fastest-growing providers across banking, card issuing, lending, e-commerce, alternative payments, payroll, and other industries.

Lending

When bad customers slip through the protection layers, online lenders suffer fraud losses. Socure’s solutions provide highly accurate identity verification across a broader spectrum of applicants. Leading online lenders have markedly increased online acceptance rates by better identifying applicants that were previously miscategorized as high-risk due to shortcomings in their existing fraud protection solutions. This is especially important for the millennial population with limited credit bureau histories and online financial footprints.

eCommerce and Payments

Fortunately, online businesses no longer have to choose between tight fraud controls that lead to lost sales and high manual review costs and looser controls that increase fraud and chargebacks. Using Socure’s highly accurate identity verification services allows online merchants and payment providers to have the best of both worlds. Socure’s predictive analytics platform precisely pinpoints high-risk from low-risk identities, allowing more good customers to be automatically accepted while keeping out the bad.

Banking

Several of the largest and most innovative banking providers trust Socure to provide accurate, secure, reliable, and compliant digital identity verification services. Socure’s intelligence goes far beyond traditional credit data to include additional offline and online data available from both public and private sources. Socure applies sophisticated, proven machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to the data to produce the most accurate and reliable results possible.

Socure is the only identity verification vendor to achieve SOC2 compliance certification and employs a comprehensive model governance process utilized at top-tier financial institutions.

 “The problem we solve goes beyond the lifeline value of a new customer or avoiding the cost created by a fraudster. Socure identifies the human race so that all the people can receive all the benefit of the digital economy.”