In the digital economy, identity is the key to unlocking access to services widely relied on in order to participate in society. Since inperson interaction is no longer always required of, or expected by, users, the challenge faced by many online organisations is how to know a person wanting to access their services is who they claim to be, and in a way that protects that person’s privacy without unduly impacting on user experience.

Onfido enables its clients to verify the identities of their users by processing information readily available to most individuals: images of their identity document and a live face. “Typically, we find that clients want to use Onfido’s identity verification (IDV) services to introduce a greater element of trust in their own platform or services – for example to verify the identity of a data subject before letting them rent a property – or in relation to a specific legal obligation imposed on the client. For example, financial institutions need to verify the identity of a data subject as part of their know your customer/ anti-money laundering supply chain,” Neal Cohen, Onfido’s Director of Privacy, told Ali Vaziri in an interview for PL&B.