CEO Bryan Lewis urges businesses to step up authentication

The CEO of digital identity solutions firm Intellicheck, Bryan Lewis, has urged banks and retailers to improve their security measures as online fraud rates keep on increasing.

Lewis mentioned data from the FBI (and reported by The Hill) showing a substantial spike in cybercrime since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to the CEO, the sudden increase is caused by the fact that malicious actors are using the abundance of stolen personally identifiable information to take over existing accounts, create new ones, take out loans and purchase expensive items online.

“The damaging impact of identity theft and fraud cuts two ways,” Lewis explained. “The financial losses from these incidents are significant, but it doesn’t stop there. The losses from customer abandonment and diminished brand reputation can be irreparable.”

The Intellicheck CEO also noted that, due to financial uncertainty, many banks and retailers are holding back from doing fintech-related upgrades during the holiday season.

Malicious actors would be aware of this trend, attacking companies when they are most vulnerable from a technical perspective.

The solution, according to Lewis, is to upgrade retailers’ and banks’ identification mechanisms to make sure individuals are who they say they are when interacting with these institutions online.

“Whether it is a person-not-present or person-present transaction, can you quickly and confidently say that the individual is who they say they are?” Lewis asked. “Authentication is vital for consumer trust and protection of the bottom line.”

Intellicheck solutions have been developed with these goals in mind.

The company specializes in biometric, digital identity products, including document authentication, facial recognition, and optical character recognition solutions.