by Sudhir Ahluwalia | Negosentro.com |
In reel life, you can see Jason Bourne, James Bond, many a hero and villain in spy and crime thrillers manipulating identity papers, breaking into electronically secured doors, hacking systems and crossing borders with false identity documents. Forging documents is an old trade. It has been a source of worry for security establishments, bankers, financiers, business people and individuals.
Technology now enables us to detect document fraud in just a few seconds. Scanning systems supported by powerful algorithms are able to detect manipulations to images. High speed data transmission has made it possible for us to send and receive documents all across the globe.
Financial fraud is a major challenge faced today by bank and financial services providers. The financial services industry has tried to protect itself by bringing in checks at multiple levels. Checking customer identity is one such check. Customers need to bring identify documents in original, get these verified in person before being permitted to open an account, receive a loan and avail other critical services.
In order to understand the developments in security technology, I got down to having a chat with Ofer Friedman Vice President Au10tix Limited; a Cyprus incorporated electronic security company. Au10tix is a subsidiary of ICTS International. ICTS International is a NASDAQ listed security firm founded by intelligence, military and security experts.
Au10tix team of electronic security experts are based out of Israel. It is this team that has developed document verification technology proprietary to the company. With the help of the system, identity documents are scanned and verified. Documents can be submitted to the system both in physical and electronic format. Physical documents are scanned, authenticated and verified in just ten seconds, the company claims, on a system that is fully autonomous.
The application can work standalone. It can also be integrated into an existing solution. For example, in case it is deployed in a bank the system can be integrated with an existing banking solution. Integrated, the entire system is able to operate seamlessly. Friedman says that the system is an API Friedman. However, I do believe that full integration will require writing of some bit of code for it to perform seamlessly with an integrated banking solution.
Document processing and authentication, as mentioned earlier, is done in a virtual private cloud environment providing an extra layer of security. When asked if the solution could be deployed on a standalone server located within an organization, Friedman replied in the affirmative. Such capability becomes relevant for clients with intelligence, national security and military.
A geopolitical or security threat is never far away for such clients and installing the system in a server on location becomes a critical requirement. The system, according to the Au10tix website can be integrated with biometric readers, barcode readers, magnetic strip and chip readers, signature pads etc.
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About Sudhir
Sudhir Ahluwalia is a business consultant. He has been management consulting head of Asia’s largest IT outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services, business advisor to multiple companies, columnist and author of upcoming book on herbs-Holy Herbs. He has been a member of the Indian Forest Service. His webpage is: www.sudhirahluwalia.com
