Since the coronavirus pandemic, it has become more and more common to work from home or otherwise remotely. For employees, this can be convenient, more productive, and efficient. As an employer, on the other hand, you’re faced with several security challenges.
Because your teams operate outside the office, ensuring secure access to sensitive data becomes crucial. How do you know whether it’s indeed your employee requesting access to client information? What if hackers found their way to your passwords and had free rein? You don’t see the person face-to-face, limiting the possibility of checking their authenticity.
Fortunately, there are smart solutions out there to secure your remote workforce and sensitive data.
In this blog, we’ll cover the benefits of digital identity verification for your company and explain step-by-step how you can implement it. Toward the end, we’ll also provide you with two use cases to get your thoughts started.
Ready to learn more? Just keep reading!
The Trend Towards Remote Working and Its Challenges
Whether you like it or not, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we work, accelerating the adoption of remote work practices. Organizations worldwide were forced to transition to remote work setups virtually overnight to ensure business continuity. A good example of this is the rise of teleconference applications like Zoom. Did you ever hear of it before the pandemic? Probably not.
It’s safe to conclude that remote work has become more than just a trend. People have got used to it and often look for possibilities to work hybrid or fully remotely. This comes with a range of security challenges for your organization, including but not limited to:
- Network Security Risks: Remote workers often connect to company networks from unsecured locations, such as public Wi-Fi networks or personal devices. This increases the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and malware infections.
- Endpoint Security Vulnerabilities: Personal devices used for remote work may lack adequate security measures, such as antivirus software, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. Endpoint security solutions must be implemented to protect against malware, ransomware, and other threats.
- Data Privacy Concerns: Remote work involves the transfer and storage of sensitive data outside the office environment/network. Ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations and protecting sensitive information is a significant challenge for remote teams.
Before you lose heart now, just know that there are solutions available. Employees are quite capable of working remotely, but you have to take some security measures. One of the things you can do is to use digital identity verification.
We’ll further discuss its benefits and how it works below.
How Identity Verification Can Benefit Your Organization
Identity verification offers numerous benefits for companies looking to secure their remote workforce. Some of the most important ones include:
- Improved Security: Identity verification ensures that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data and resources, reducing the risk of data breaches and insider threats.
- Regulatory Compliance: Often, it’s stipulated by law that companies have to use identity verification methods. By complying with these laws, you show you care about industry regulations and data security. And the user’s security of course.
- Improved User Experience: No one likes to go through several steps to prove they are who they say they are. Luckily, modern identity verification solutions prioritize user experience, offering smooth authentication methods that don’t compromise security. Taking a selfie or scanning an ID card or passport is often enough.
- Reduced Fraud: Identity verification helps you detect and prevent fraudulent activities, such as identity theft and account takeovers. In turn, this protects your assets and reputation.
So far, so good. You know the challenges of a remote workforce and the benefits of a digital verification solution. What’s left is explaining how you can actually verify your workers’ identities remotely.
How to Verify Identities Remotely
Verifying your employees’ identities remotely requires a combination of technologies and best practices. Below are three steps you can take to tackle this process:
1. Biometric Authentication
Biometric authentication utilizes unique physical characteristics, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, to verify an individual’s identity. When one of your remote employee logs in using their own device, they can use biometric data captured by their device to authenticate themselves securely.
For example, you can ask them to take a selfie with their webcam, which is then compared to a database of pictures. If there’s a match, your employee is granted access. This method offers a high level of security while ensuring a pleasant user experience.
2. Document Verification
Document verification involves verifying the authenticity of identity documents, such as driver’s licenses or passports, using specialized software or services. Your remote employees, for example, can upload scanned copies of their documents for verification.
In addition, sensitive information can be anonymized to comply with regulatory requirements and prevent fraud. This method adds an extra layer of security by verifying the identity of remote workers before granting access to sensitive data and resources.
3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification before accessing sensitive information. This is probably the most well-known security measure, since it’s used by well-known companies like Google and recommended by governmental bodies such as the CISA.
For example, when one of your remote employees initiates a high-risk transaction, context and risk analysis are performed to determine the level of security required. This may trigger the issuance of a one-time password, providing additional verification steps to ensure the user’s identity.
After explaining what remote verification for your company could look like, it’s time to give some real-world applications. We hope this helps to get your thoughts started.
Use Cases of Remote Identity Verification
Identity verification software is already employed in many processes and industries to verify identities remotely. We’ll cover the two most common use cases below.
Employee ID Proofing with ID Scanning
In this situation, the identity verification process involves verifying the authenticity of your employees’ identity documents. ID scanning technology is used to capture the document data and cross-check with other sources, such as your employee database.
The process could look like this:
- Your employee logs in using their own device.
- He/she is asked to scan their ID document using their device’s camera.
- The document is verified for authenticity with smart checks, such as checking for illegible or damaged information and traces of cutting or gluing. Also, the name in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) should correspond with the name on the document.
- Additionally, your employee’s biometric information may be captured and verified to further strengthen security. Good examples of such processes are facial recognition and selfie verification.
- Once verified, the employee’s identity and device are trusted, allowing them to access the needed systems or information.
Employee Authentication
Employee authentication plays a crucial role in securing high-risk transactions and sensitive operations. When one of your employees initiates a high-risk transaction, such as accessing confidential data or performing financial transactions, context and risk analysis are performed to determine the level of security required.
This may trigger the issuance of a one-time password to the employee’s registered device. Additionally, your employee may be required to perform a selfie check to confirm their identity before completing the transaction. Once the transaction is completed, the employee’s identity and actions are securely authenticated.
Conclusion
After reading this blog, it should have become clear that the trend of working remotely brings several security challenges for organizations. To tackle these, you have to implement proactive measures to protect information and lower risks of identity theft.
An efficient solution lies in identity verification. Software that can verify and authenticate your employees can help protect your organization against cyber threats and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. In the end, it’s crucial for the sustainability of your remote work environments.
