Onfido - Detailed Review
Security Tools
Onfido - Product Overview
Onfido Overview
Onfido is an AI-powered digital identity verification solution that helps businesses securely onboard new customers and prevent fraud. Here’s a brief overview of its primary function, target audience, and key features:
Primary Function
Onfido’s main purpose is to provide a comprehensive identity verification platform. It combines document verification, biometric checks, and other signals to ensure that businesses can trust the identities of their customers. This helps in complying with regulatory requirements and preventing advanced fraud.
Target Audience
The primary target audience for Onfido includes financial institutions, banks, and online businesses. These sectors benefit significantly from Onfido’s identity verification and fraud prevention solutions. The platform is also used by companies in the information technology, computer software, and internet sectors.
Key Features
Onfido Real Identity Platform
This is the core solution that integrates various verification methods, including document and biometric verifications, trusted data sources, and passive fraud detection signals.
Onfido Studio
A no-code, drag-and-drop orchestration tool that allows businesses to build, manage, and deploy customized identity verification workflows. It includes a Workflow Builder and supports various verification tasks such as document capture, autofill, and document reports.
Smart Capture SDKs
These SDKs enable the capture of documents, selfies, live videos, and motion captures, making the verification process smoother and more secure.
Device Intelligence
Analyzes device signals to identify risky IP addresses, malicious bot traffic, and rooted or emulated devices.
Repeat Fraud Detection
Identifies previously seen fraudulent documents and biometrics to prevent synthetic identity fraud.
Overall, Onfido’s solutions are built to automate and streamline the identity verification process, reducing friction for customers while enhancing security and compliance for businesses.
Onfido - User Interface and Experience
Onfido User Interface and User Experience
Onfido’s user interface and overall user experience, particularly in its security tools and AI-driven products, are designed to be intuitive, efficient, and secure.
Ease of Use
Onfido is generally praised for its ease of use. Users appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the interface, which makes it easy to integrate and operate. The platform’s API documentation is well-regarded, and the sandbox environment provides a smooth experience for testing and implementation.
User Experience
The user experience is enhanced by several key features:
- Seamless Onboarding and Authentication: Onfido’s Real Identity Platform, which includes Onfido Verify and Onfido Face Authenticate, allows users to onboard and authenticate quickly. For example, the Face Authenticate feature uses 3D Face Liveness Detection AI, requiring users to take just a three-second video selfie to authenticate, making the process fast and frictionless.
- Cross-Device Compatibility: The platform is compatible with a wide range of devices, including iOS and Android devices, tablets, and PCs, ensuring that users can access and use the service from various platforms without any issues.
- SDKs and Mobile Integration: Users have praised the SDKs provided by Onfido, which facilitate a smooth transition between desktop, laptop, and mobile devices for capturing identity documents or taking selfies.
Feedback and Support
Users also highlight the excellent customer support and account management provided by Onfido. The customer success managers (CSMs) and account teams are highly regarded for their helpfulness and responsiveness, which contributes positively to the overall user experience.
Minor Drawbacks
While the overall experience is positive, some users have noted minor drawbacks, such as occasional long load times and some complexity in the terms of use and pricing models.
Conclusion
In summary, Onfido’s user interface is user-friendly, efficient, and secure, making it a reliable choice for identity verification and authentication needs. The platform’s ease of use, cross-device compatibility, and strong customer support all contribute to a positive user experience.
Onfido - Key Features and Functionality
Onfido Overview
Onfido, a leading provider of AI-driven digital identity and fraud prevention solutions, offers a suite of features that are integral to its security tools. Here are the main features and how they work:
Fraud Detection Signals
Onfido’s fraud detection is powered by its Atlas™ AI, which uses thousands of micro-models to identify fraudulent activities. Here are some key aspects of this feature:
- Device Intelligence: This feature analyzes device signals such as geolocation, network information, and emulator detection to identify suspicious behavior without requiring additional user input.
- Repeat Attempts: Onfido’s AI checks if a document has been previously onboarded, even if personal identifiable information (PII) attributes have been altered, to prevent synthetic identity fraud and organized fraud rings.
- Real-Time Monitoring: The system constantly monitors for anomalies in real-time, ensuring prompt detection of fraudulent activities.
ID Analytics and Intelligence Reporting
- ID Analytics: This feature stores data from external and internal sources related to fake accounts, evaluating users for risk. It helps in identifying patterns and anomalies associated with fraudulent activities.
- Intelligence Reporting: Onfido actively gathers data on suspicious purchasing sources and characteristics of common fraud committers, providing detailed reports to help in fraud prevention.
Authentication Methods
- Document and Biometric Verification: Onfido offers a library of document and biometric verifications, including ID card verification, telephone number checks, and matching against consumer records. This ensures accurate identity verification.
- Liveness Check: The platform uses selfies or other photograph technology to ensure the person being verified is real, preventing spoofing attacks.
Administration and Compliance
- Blacklisting: Onfido prevents previous fraud committers from future transactions by blacklisting them, reducing the risk of repeat fraud.
- Encryption: All data transfers are encrypted using 256-bit SSL encryption, ensuring secure data transmission.
- Audit Trails: The system provides audit trails to monitor usage and reduce fraud, offering transparency and accountability.
- Regulatory Compliance: Onfido complies with various regulations such as KYC, PSD2, and others, ensuring businesses meet global compliance standards.
Integration and SDKs
- Mobile SDK: Onfido offers a mobile software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to seamlessly integrate biometric authentication into their applications.
- Onfido Studio: This is a no-code, drag-and-drop orchestration solution that lets businesses build workflows and automatically route users, meeting risk and user requirements without needing technical expertise.
AI Integration
Onfido’s Atlas™ AI is central to its fraud detection and identity verification capabilities. Here’s how AI is integrated:
- Micro-models: Atlas™ AI is composed of thousands of micro-models trained to look for specific fraud signals on individual documents. These models are trained on both genuine and fraudulent documents, enabling the system to detect new and emerging threats quickly.
- Continuous Learning: The AI models are continuously updated and retrained in response to new attack vectors, ensuring the system remains effective against evolving fraud tactics.
Orchestration and Workflows
- Onfido Studio: This tool allows businesses to orchestrate digital identity verification and fraud prevention journeys without requiring coding. It helps in presenting the right verifications at the right moments, streamlining the onboarding process.
By integrating these features, Onfido provides a comprehensive solution that enhances customer acquisition, maintains compliance with global regulations, and effectively mitigates fraud, all while ensuring a secure and efficient onboarding experience.
Onfido - Performance and Accuracy
Onfido’s Performance and Accuracy
Onfido’s performance and accuracy in the AI-driven security tools category are noteworthy, particularly highlighted through several key aspects of their Real Identity Platform.
Automation and Speed
Onfido’s Atlas AI is a significant component that automates the identity verification process, resulting in a 12-fold increase in auto-clearance rates. This means that 95% of identity checks are now resolved in less than 10 seconds, which is a substantial improvement in efficiency.
Fraud Accuracy
The platform has seen a 54% boost in fraud accuracy, which is achieved through advanced AI models trained on both genuine and fraudulent documents. This training enables the system to recognize and detect anomalies with high precision, reducing missed fraud cases by 54% compared to traditional machine learning approaches.
False Acceptance Rates
Onfido has managed to drop false acceptance rates to 0.01%, a 10-fold improvement. This reduction helps in minimizing the risk of accepting fraudulent identities and reduces bias on the platform.
Document and Biometric Verification
The Onfido Smart Capture SDK enhances the quality of the information used for verification. It includes features like NFC, MRZ, and barcode reading, as well as image enhancement and face detection tools. This results in a 20% increase in the likelihood of capturing suitable documents and selfies on the first attempt, leading to a 90% first-time pass rate for remote onboarding processes.
Fraud Detection and Training
Onfido’s Fraud Lab generates thousands of synthetic IDs, including deepfakes, to train and benchmark their anti-fraud AI models. This process allows for the creation of up to 10,000 synthetic IDs in just half an hour, significantly enhancing the AI’s ability to detect and prevent deepfake attacks. This is particularly important given the alarming increase in deepfakes and digitally forged identities reported in their fraud reports.
Device Intelligence and Repeat Attempts
Onfido’s fraud detection signals include device intelligence that leverages geolocation, network information, and emulator detection to identify suspicious behavior. Additionally, the Repeat Attempts feature detects if a document has been previously onboarded, even if personal identifiable information (PII) attributes have been altered, protecting against synthetic identity fraud and organized fraud rings.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Onfido’s system is highly advanced, there are a few areas to consider:
- Data Dependency: The effectiveness of Onfido’s AI models depends heavily on the quality and quantity of the data used for training. Ensuring continuous access to diverse and updated datasets is crucial for maintaining high accuracy.
- Emerging Threats: The constant evolution of fraud techniques means that Onfido must continually update and adapt its models to new attack vectors. While they have a system in place to retrain models quickly, staying ahead of emerging threats is an ongoing challenge.
Overall, Onfido’s Real Identity Platform demonstrates strong performance and accuracy in identity verification and fraud detection, backed by advanced AI technology and continuous efforts to adapt to new fraud threats.
Onfido - Pricing and Plans
Onfido’s Pricing Structure
Onfido’s pricing structure for its AI-driven identity verification solutions is customized and based on several key factors, making it challenging to pinpoint a single, straightforward pricing model. Here are the main points to consider:Custom Pricing
Onfido does not offer a one-size-fits-all pricing plan. Instead, the pricing is customized based on various factors such as the industry, customer size, onboarding challenges, and the time spent on manual reviews.Volume of Verifications
The cost per verification decreases as the volume of verifications increases. This means that businesses with a high volume of transactions can expect lower rates per verification.Types of Verification
Onfido offers a suite of verification services, including document verification, biometric verification, and data verification. The cost varies depending on the type and complexity of the verification method chosen. For example, advanced methods like AI-powered OCR and biometric checks with liveness detection will be more expensive.Geographical Coverage
The pricing is also influenced by the geographical scale of operations. Onfido supports documents and translations for multiple countries and languages, and the more extensive the coverage, the higher the cost.Additional Features
Onfido provides additional features such as SDK capture, integrations, and global KYC checks, each of which involves competitive pricing. Custom integration requirements and maintenance needs also impact the final cost.No Free or Standard Plans
There are no free or standard pricing plans available for Onfido. However, businesses can sign up for a free trial of Onfido Studio to test the identity verification workflows and features before committing to a paid plan.ROI Calculator
Onfido offers a Return on Investment (ROI) calculator to help businesses estimate the cost savings based on industry averages and their specific needs.User Feedback
Users have noted that Onfido is more cost-effective for businesses with a high volume of users. For smaller businesses or startups, the initial investment and additional charges for exceeding limits can be significant. The pricing structure is often described as complex and requires careful budget planning.Conclusion
In summary, Onfido’s pricing is highly customized and dependent on various business-specific factors, making it necessary for potential users to contact Onfido directly for a detailed quote. Onfido - Integration and Compatibility
Integration with Other Tools
Onfido’s solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with other tools and systems. For instance, the Onfido Real Identity Platform includes orchestration and SDK solutions that allow businesses to build workflows using Onfido Studio, a no-code, drag-and-drop workflow builder. This tool enables the creation of customized verification flows that can be integrated into existing systems to meet specific risk and user requirements.
SDKs for Mobile Integration
Onfido provides specific SDKs for mobile applications, such as the Onfido Android SDK, which is designed for integrating identity verification flows into Android apps. This SDK includes features like advanced image quality detection, direct image upload to Onfido services, and advanced fraud detection signals. The SDK supports two environments: a ‘sandbox’ for testing with sample documents and a ‘live’ environment for production use with real documents.
Platform Compatibility
The Onfido Android SDK is compatible with API level 21 and above, with the current configuration set to minSdkVersion = 21 and targetSdkVersion = 34. It also supports Kotlin and provides options for different integration methods, including a comprehensive “full” version and a more lightweight “core” version of the SDK.
Language and Regional Support
Onfido’s SDKs support translations for over 40 languages, allowing businesses to cater to a global user base. The SDK can detect and use the end user’s device language setting, and it also allows for custom language configurations for unsupported locales.
Security and Encryption
Onfido’s integration includes enhanced security tools, such as Onfido Private Key Encryption (PKE), which uses the AES-256 standard to encrypt customer data with a unique Customer Master Key (CMK). This ensures that sensitive customer information is stored as cipher text and becomes inaccessible if the CMK is revoked. This solution is built on top of Onfido’s existing enterprise-grade security standards, including SOC 2 Type II compliance and ISO 27001 certification.
Dynamic Feature Module
For more flexible integration, Onfido’s Android SDK can be integrated using a Dynamic Feature Module, which reduces the SDK size to essentially zero by initializing it only at runtime. This approach allows for various delivery configurations, such as install-time, conditional, and on-demand delivery.
Overall, Onfido’s tools are engineered to be highly integrable and compatible with a wide range of platforms and devices, ensuring seamless identity verification and enhanced security for businesses.
Onfido - Customer Support and Resources
Customer Support Options
Onfido provides a comprehensive range of customer support options and additional resources to ensure users can effectively utilize their AI-driven security tools.
Contact Methods
Phone Support
You can reach Onfido’s customer service via phone using the London office number 44 208 152 5321 or the Swiss number 43 664 755 3831. The London number is the most commonly used, with 90% of consumers using it to address their issues.
Email Support
For email inquiries, you can use info@onfido.com for general customer service and press@onfido.com for media-related questions.
Live Chat
Onfido also offers a live chat feature available at the bottom right of their webpage, allowing you to quickly connect with specialists online.
Online Resources
Customer Experience Portal
Onfido has a dedicated Customer Experience Portal where you can submit support tickets, track your cases, and access a knowledge base with helpful articles related to their products. This portal includes features like a search bar for finding relevant articles and a section for resolving tickets based on the information provided.
Help Center
The Onfido website has a detailed help center with various articles and guides that can help you resolve common issues without needing to contact support directly.
Additional Support
Office Locations
Onfido has multiple office locations, including in London, New York, Albuquerque, Lisbon, and Singapore. You can find the specific addresses on their website if you need to contact or visit any of these offices.
Business Hours
Customer support is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, although online services and information are accessible at any time.
Specific Support for Products
Identity Verification and Fraud Detection
Onfido provides extensive documentation and support for their identity verification and fraud detection tools. This includes guides on how to use their Smart Capture SDKs, biometric verification, and document verification solutions. These resources help in setting up and troubleshooting their AI-powered fraud detection and identity verification services.
By leveraging these support options and resources, users can effectively manage and resolve issues related to Onfido’s security tools, ensuring a smooth and secure onboarding and verification process.
Onfido - Pros and Cons
When Considering Onfido as an Identity Verification Solution
Key Advantages
Comprehensive Verification Services
Onfido offers a wide range of identity verification tools, including document checks, facial recognition, and biometric verification. This makes it a strong option for businesses in highly regulated industries like financial services and fintech.
Global Reach
Onfido supports identity verification across multiple regions, making it ideal for companies with an international customer base. This broad coverage helps businesses comply with local and global regulatory requirements.
Customisable API Integration
Onfido’s API allows for seamless integration into existing workflows and apps, enabling easy customer onboarding. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for fintechs and digital platforms looking to scale.
AI-Powered Fraud Detection
Onfido’s Atlas™ AI significantly reduces manual review times and improves fraud detection accuracy. This AI-driven technology helps detect sophisticated fraud with high precision, reducing the risk of missed fraud cases by 54% compared to other machine learning approaches.
Device Intelligence and Geolocation
Onfido’s fraud detection signals include device intelligence, geolocation, and network information, which help detect suspicious behavior without requiring additional user input.
Key Disadvantages
High Cost for Growing Businesses
While Onfido’s pricing is flexible, it can become expensive for companies that need high-volume identity checks or advanced features like fraud detection. This makes it less appealing for smaller businesses or startups due to the high initial investment and potential additional charges for exceeding volume limits.
Limited Financial Data Verification
Onfido primarily focuses on document and biometric verification and does not integrate Open Banking data, which can be a limitation for businesses that require real-time access to bank data for enhanced identity checks.
Manual Review Dependencies
Although Onfido’s AI reduces the need for manual reviews, some edge cases still require human intervention. This can slow down the onboarding process and increase costs.
Complex Pricing Structure
Onfido’s pricing model is customised based on factors like verification volume, document checks, and add-on features, but it lacks transparent pricing. This complexity requires businesses to carefully evaluate and consider their budget flexibility before implementing the tool.
By weighing these pros and cons, businesses can make an informed decision about whether Onfido aligns with their specific needs and budget constraints.
Onfido - Comparison with Competitors
Unique Features of Onfido
- Drag-and-Drop Orchestration: Onfido offers a no-code workflow builder, Onfido Studio, which allows businesses to create customized onboarding workflows using a simple drag-and-drop interface. This feature is particularly useful for deploying the right verification methods and fraud detection signals at the right time, without relying on pre-built workflows.
- AI Built to Beat Bias: Onfido’s AI is trained to prevent bias, openly publishing demographic bias metrics, which is a significant advantage over competitors like Jumio. This ensures fair, fast, and accurate verification globally.
- Smart Capture and Biometric Verification: Onfido’s Smart Capture technology includes multi-frame image capture, reducing rejection rates by up to 70%, and passive liveness detection to prevent fraud. The platform also supports cross-device capability for a consistent user experience.
Competitors and Alternatives
Veriff
- Veriff is another major player in the identity verification space, known for its AI-powered verification solutions that work on every device. It integrates seamlessly into onboarding flows without affecting conversion rates. Veriff is global and highly rated for its ease of use and reliability.
Sumsub
- Sumsub is often considered the best overall alternative to Onfido. It offers customizable KYC/AML, KYB, transaction monitoring, and fraud prevention solutions. Sumsub helps businesses meet compliance requirements, reduce costs, and protect against fraud while orchestrating the entire user verification journey.
Trulioo
- Trulioo is praised for its ease of use and efficient verification processes. It is popular among small to medium-sized businesses due to its user-friendly interface. Trulioo provides comprehensive watchlist monitoring and adverse media screening, helping businesses mitigate risks and ensure compliance.
iDenfy
- iDenfy is an online identity verification company that helps reduce fraud and make business operations smoother and more profitable. It offers AI-driven identity verification solutions that are quick and reliable.
HyperVerge
- HyperVerge stands out with its state-of-the-art technology, providing smooth identity and fraud checks. It offers a free trial and competitive pricing, making it an attractive option for cost-conscious businesses. HyperVerge’s platform includes features like face deduplication and no-code integration, which can be completed in as little as 4 hours.
Pricing and Integration
- Onfido: The pricing is based on the number of checks performed, with different tiers available based on the volume of checks. This can be on the higher side for small businesses.
- Trulioo: Offers a more straightforward pricing model on a subscription basis, which is more suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. However, some advanced features are absent in lower-tier plans.
- HyperVerge: Provides a competitive pricing strategy with a free trial, making it scalable and cost-effective. The subscription-based model includes tailored plans to meet diverse business needs.
Additional Considerations
- LastPass and Other Password Managers: While not direct competitors in identity verification, tools like LastPass specialize in password and identity management within the cybersecurity industry. These tools are more focused on password security rather than comprehensive identity verification.
- IDMerit: Known for its access to government data sources in over 90 countries, IDMerit offers accurate KYC and AML solutions. It is highly recommended by users for its compliance capabilities and competitive pricing.
In summary, Onfido stands out with its advanced AI-driven solutions, drag-and-drop orchestration, and bias-free verification. However, alternatives like Veriff, Sumsub, Trulioo, iDenfy, and HyperVerge offer unique features and pricing models that may better suit specific business needs.
Onfido - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Onfido’s security tools and AI-driven products, along with detailed responses:
Q: What is Onfido’s Real Identity Platform?
Onfido’s Real Identity Platform is a comprehensive solution that combines document and biometric verifications, trusted data sources, and fraud detection signals. It is powered by Atlas AI, which automates identity verification processes to ensure fast, fair, and accurate results. The platform includes a Verification Suite, intuitive orchestration capabilities, and automation to build trust with customers and protect against fraud.
Q: How does Onfido’s biometric verification work?
Onfido’s biometric verification involves facial recognition and liveness detection. Users are prompted to take a selfie, which is then compared to the photo on their identification document to confirm their identity. The platform employs advanced facial recognition technology, including FaceTec’s 3D FaceMap technology, to detect spoofing attempts and ensure the user is physically present during the verification process.
Q: What anti-spoofing measures does Onfido use?
Onfido utilizes advanced anti-spoofing technology to prevent spoofing attempts. This includes FaceTec’s 3D FaceMap technology, which achieves a class-leading False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of less than 1/12.8M and is NIST/NVLAP PAD Level 1 & 2 certified. The system also operates in low-light conditions by modulating the screen brightness of the device to ensure the user is live and in-person during every authentication session.
Q: How does Onfido handle document verification?
Onfido supports various document types such as passports, visas, driving licenses, and work permits. The platform uses AI-powered optical character recognition (OCR) to extract relevant information from the documents, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. It also performs rigorous checks to detect signs of tampering, forgery, or counterfeit documents.
Q: What fraud detection capabilities does Onfido offer?
Onfido’s platform applies various fraud detection algorithms and checks to identify potential risks and fraudulent activities. This includes detecting synthetic ID fraud, comparing user information against global watchlists, sanction lists, and PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) databases, and analyzing device characteristics to identify suspicious behavior.
Q: How secure is the data stored with Onfido?
Onfido uses advanced security measures to protect customer data. This includes Onfido Private Key Encryption (PKE) with a dedicated and unique Customer Master Key (CMK) using the AES-256 standard. The data is stored as cipher text, and if the CMK is ever revoked, the data becomes inaccessible to anyone. Onfido also complies with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 standards.
Q: Can Onfido integrate with existing systems and workflows?
Yes, Onfido offers the Onfido Studio Workflow Builder, which allows businesses to create and optimize identity verification workflows without technical expertise. This orchestration layer enables the integration of identity verification into existing systems and workflows, ensuring a smooth and flexible experience for users.
Q: How does Onfido ensure fairness and accuracy in its AI-driven identity verification?
Onfido’s Atlas AI is built using diverse, global datasets to mitigate AI bias. The AI is trained on balanced datasets representative of real-world variations in race and ethnicity. This unique micro-model architecture combines over 10,000 models trained to detect specific fraud markers, ensuring fast, fair, and accurate identity verification.
Q: What compliance services does Onfido offer?
Onfido provides Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-money Laundering (AML) compliance services as part of its Verification Suite. The platform helps businesses verify customers at scale and meet global compliance requirements while mitigating risks associated with identity theft and fraud.
Q: How quickly can Onfido process identity verifications?
Onfido’s Atlas AI processes 95% of ID verifications in under 10 seconds, with biometric verifications completed in under 15 seconds. This fast processing time helps reduce friction and improve the user experience.