IDnow & Keyless partner to boost secure digital identity checks

IDnow and Keyless have announced a strategic partnership to integrate digital identity verification with privacy-preserving biometric authentication.

The collaboration involves combining IDnow's portfolio of identity verification and digital signature solutions with Keyless' biometric multi-factor authentication technology. As a result, organisations will be able to register customers through IDnow and subsequently authenticate them with Keyless, supporting a security approach referred to as 'Continuous Trust'.

Continuous Trust relies on matching biometric authentication data collected by Keyless for authentication events, such as account recovery or changing personal details, with the biometric data originally captured by IDnow at the point of onboarding. This ensures verification during high-risk actions throughout a customer's digital journey.

Security context

With digital transactions increasingly targeted by sophisticated fraud methods, including deepfakes and artificial intelligence-driven scams, IDnow's integration with Keyless is aimed at enhancing the security and reliability of digital identity processes. The partnership supports ongoing regulatory compliance and is designed to help clients adapt to evolving digital threats.

IDnow ensures user trust is maintained throughout every digital transaction and interaction. Keyless, meanwhile, delivers authentication by comparing the user's face and device identity in under 300 milliseconds and transforms biometric data into a non-personally-identifiable format, maintaining privacy by not storing the biometric data at any point.

Executives' comments

Trust is no longer a one-time checkpoint but a continuous process. Our partnership with Keyless enhances our ability to fight emerging fraud typologies amid a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, ensuring that digital identities remain secure and trustworthy throughout their lifecycle.

This was stated by Andreas Bodczek, Chief Executive Officer at IDnow.

Fabian Eberle, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Keyless, explained some of the practical implications of the integration:

One of the biggest questions we get is whether users need to enrol twice - with the IDV and with Keyless. Until recently, the answer was yes. But what's pivotal about the partnership with IDnow is that we can silently enrol users into Keyless during the IDnow verification flow. It's a game changer for reducing friction.

Privacy and compliance

The privacy measures provided by Keyless include its cryptographic approach that turns biometric data into a non-PII format, addressing both user privacy and regulatory concerns. The combined solution is intended to be scalable and ready to meet future security as well as compliance requirements as regulations and threats evolve.

IDnow's and Keyless' partnership is expected to be significant for sectors where compliance and security are paramount, including banking, fintech, and healthcare. Their joint offering provides a framework that aligns with regulatory norms and is designed to adapt as these standards develop.

Technical integration

Keyless multi-factor authentication leverages a dual check on a user's facial biometrics and the enrolled device within a short timeframe, with the data cryptographically anonymised. This allows organisations to add new privacy-first authentication methods to the existing verification processes provided by IDnow, strengthening security checks and reducing potential attack vectors.

The collaborative solution is structured to help enterprises add both security and adaptability to their customer identity management systems, supporting new digital behaviours and unforseen threat models.

The companies operate in several markets across Europe and internationally, serving customers in a range of regulated industries.