According to a new survey conducted by Regula, fake biometric artifacts like deepfake voice or video are perceived as real threats by 80% of companies, with 91% of organizations specifically in the US considering it to be a growing threat.

Creating deepfakes

Regula highlights that AI can be used to create increasingly realistic and convincing deepfakes, making it more difficult to distinguish between genuine and manipulated content.

Additionally, the increasing accessibility of AI technology means it is easier for individuals with malicious intent to create deepfakes, amplifying the threat to businesses and individuals alike.

“AI-generated fake identities can be difficult for humans to detect, unless they are specially trained to do so. While neural networks may be useful in detecting deepfakes, they should be used in conjunction with other anti-fraud measures that focus on physical and dynamic parameters, such as face liveness checks, document liveness checks via optically variable security elements, etc.,” said Ihar Kliashchou, Chief Technology Officer at Regula.

“Currently, it is difficult or even impossible to create deepfakes that display expected dynamic behavior, so verifying the liveliness of an object can give you an edge over fraudsters. In addition, cross-validating user information with biometric checks and recent transaction checks can help ensure a thorough verification process.”

Advanced identity fraud

According to Regula’s survey on deepfakes, nearly half of the organizations globally (46%) experienced synthetic identity fraud in the past year, with 37% having experienced voice deepfakes and 29% video deepfakes.

Also known as “Frankenstein” identity, synthetic identity fraud is a type of scam where criminals combine real and fake ID information to create totally new and artificial identities. It’s usually used to open bank accounts or make fraudulent purchases.

The company highlights that the banking sector is the most vulnerable to such kind of identity fraud. Nearly all the companies in the industry (92%) surveyed by Regula perceive synthetic fraud as a real threat and almost half (49%) have recently come across this scam.

Nowadays, to prevent the majority of current identity fraud, companies should enable sophisticated document verification in addition to comprehensive biometric checks. It’s now crucial to include the following tools:

• Thorough ID verification: it’s vital to enable extended document verification when proving someone’s identity remotely. A company should be able to establish the widest range of authenticity checks comprising all the security features in IDs. Even in a zero-trust-to-mobile scenario with NFC-based verification of electronic documents, chip authenticity can be reverified on the server side, which is currently the most secure method to prove that the document is genuine. Moreover, for those running an international business, utilizing a comprehensive document template database that includes a wide range of templates from numerous countries and territories is crucial. This helps organizations from any part of the world to validate and authenticate nearly any identity document, whether on-site or remotely, preventing fraud and mitigating security risks
• Biometric verification: the indispensable second half of the process is quick and robust liveness verification to prove that no malefactor is trying to present non-live imagery (a mask, printed image or digital photo) during this check. It should even go further: biometric verification solutions should also match a person’s selfie with their ID portrait and any database an organization utilizes to ensure that the person is the same. To ensure that fraudsters cannot reuse users’ liveness sessions for tampering, the enrollment process for every company’s requirements should be set up with unique parameters. The solution should also support multiple attributes to bind to a photo, such as a person’s name, age, gender, driver’s license number, credit score, etc., for a more reliable and secure enrollment process

Overall, Regula says that an effective identity verification process involves utilizing a combination of techniques, along with the widest scope of cross-validations of a user’s information and attributes.