How convenient and secure is access to online services via selfies?

Online services have gained great popularity in the Netherlands: 87% of Dutch citizens already access governmental services via a public authentication solution. The demand for secure authentication and logon to online services is growing and is now also being requested by private services such as insurance companies, health organizations, telco providers, and more. The Dutch Government realized the need for a cost-efficient solution that increases security without compromising convenience, so it launched the pilot project “Idensys,” an initiative for making life easier for public organizations in terms of safe and user-friendly access to digital services. During the project, which started in February 2016, participants can sign up to an account and perform online transactions via their smartphones.

Morpho is one of the partners enabling this project.

Under the SecureIdentity brand we set up a service that can do remote ID proofing based on national documents and will protect the user’s identity. Users will be able to create a verified identity account. First-time users of SecureIdentity just need their passport and their smartphone to go through a one-time-only verification process that takes about 5 minutes. Once users are registered on SecureIdentity, identity can be proven during an online transaction in just a few seconds thanks to the use of a secure smartphone app.
Joost van Prooijen, Market Development Manager eGovernment Europe at Morpho

The application comes with a special biometric feature that will not only make online transactions more secure, but also more fun: “Through face recognition, a simple selfie pic enables users to prove their identity to access online services. Morpho’s ‘SelfieCheck’ solution provides a highly secure login with strong authentication while keeping user friendliness high and costs low,” said van Prooijen. The Idensys pilot is allowing up to 30,000 users and 20 government bodies and businesses to test secure access to online services with Morpho’s SelfieCheck. The experience in the pilots will be evaluated by mid-2016. Van Prooijen: “We expect Idensys to become the standard for access to digital services in the Netherlands.”