Last updated on January 8, 2020
Authentication is defined as the process to determine someone is who they claim to be. Similarly, identity authentication means having proper verification checks in place to determine whether the online individual or user is who they say they are. In the old days, the process of obtaining signatures and verifying them took a long time. The verification process took a long time as well to sift through the documents and look for forged or illegible signatures.
This created an abundance of unnecessary difficulties for the people, lowering productivity and wasting important time. This also resulted in the delay of the business transaction process, which effectively lowered the business ROI.
Online Authentication Factors
When it comes to online space, it becomes very imperative for organizations and different entities to verify the authenticity of their clients. On an online platform, anyone can be anonymous or pretend to be someone else. Due to this reason, it becomes crucial for entities to determine their clients are who they say they are.
Online authentication is done through the employment of three different kinds of factors.
● Knowledge Factor
Knowledge factor relates to the knowledge that an individual possesses. These factors constitute passwords, PINs, ID numbers, etc.
● Possession Factor
The possession factor revolves around things that an individual has or possesses. These can include mobile phones, tokens, cards, etc.
● Biometric Factor
Biometrics relates to the unique traits every individual has. Fingerprints, facial traits, voice are all the biometric authentication that can be used to recognize human beings.
What is Signature Authentication?
Signature authentication verifies that a signature on a document belongs to the person who has signed it. Signature authentication is sometimes required for legal purposes as well. Mostly, signature authentication is used to effectively verify the identity of the people.
How Does it Work?
Signature authentication is employed to verify the identity of the clients. The first step in signature authentication involves obtaining the user’s specimen signatures in order to record them in the database. Later when a user signs on a document, the system automatically compares the current user signature with the ones in the database. This comparison is done on various parameters. The number of pen strokes, velocity, pressure are some of the parameters on which the signatures are compared.
The system also develops a matching score while comparing signatures. There is a certain limit, mostly 60%, below which the system considers the signature as forged by any other individual. If the match is above 90%, the signature is automatically accepted by the system. The system also takes the current user signature and adds it to the previously recorded database for effective signature verification.
This process of adding current signatures to the database is effective and has a number of advantages. An example of this is if a user has to authenticate the signature five years from now, then there must inevitably be small variations between the current signatures and the signatures stored in the database five years ago. In order to avoid these slight variations, the database keeps on getting updated with newer versions of the user’s signatures.
The Importance of Signature Authentication
Signature authentication plays its role in providing a supplementary layer of security to the clients. Through this tool, entities can protect their businesses from fraudulent activities. People trying to gain illegal access through forged documents will face a lot of hurdles and obstructions. This, in turn, results in protecting the businesses against frauds and hacks.
