How AI Can Curb Identity Theft

Ever had your identity stolen?

Yep, so have we.

One in 10 people has experienced exploitation of their details in the last 12 months.

Preventing identity theft

photo credit: Ivan Samkov / Pexels

Furthermore, five percent of people have experienced financial loss due to misuse of personal information in the last year alone, according to Armourcard.com.

These stats are incredibly worrying and with the world moving ever more online, these types of identity scams are only becoming more prevalent.

It’s fair to say that technology and in particular, AI brings with it a whole load of new problems and challenges. However, the benefits we can gain are infinite and when it comes to identity theft, AI could even make it a thing of the past…

In this post, we’re taking a look at how this can happen, but first, let’s find out exactly what identity theft and AI are…

Table of Contents

What Is Identity Theft?

So, what is identity theft?

Identity theft is having your personal information stolen, then used by someone in a fraudulent way, most notably for unauthorized monetary transactions.

There are several very common ways in which identity theft can happen be it through; Phishing (fake emails), fake websites, impersonation, data breaches and bank card copying.

If you’ve ever had money taken from your bank account unknowingly, chances are it will be from one of these scams.

What Is AI?

Artificial intelligence can be defined as intelligence demonstrated by machines.

Whereas we humans display levels of intelligence naturally, AI is the process of machines developing intelligence… A process known as machine learning.

Machine learning and the rate at which they learn is one of the biggest factors in advancing technology.

Through studying how machines and computers can improve automatically through experience and the use of data, we can develop extremely sophisticated algorithms to help us in all aspects of life…

From this, AI becomes increasingly intelligent and as the learning process progresses, so does AI’s ability to curb identity theft issues.

Curbing identity theft

4 Ways AI Can Curb Identity Theft

Currently, there are many KYC (Know Your Customer) methods used to prevent identity theft particularly with eCommerce businesses and financial institutions (Think, text verifications and code generators).

1. Fast Biometric Data Recognition

When it comes to identifying theft, sophisticated biometric recognition is going to be the number 1 thing that will help slow and even eliminate identity theft issues.

Biometric data consists of measurements and statistics related to the human body and its characteristics.

Technology that can recognize human characteristics such as; fingerprints, voice and even facial patterns are going to make things incredibly difficult for impersonation scams to take place.

The quicker systems can recognize biometric data and the further this type of recognition develops, the harder and harder it will become.

2. Unauthorized Source Protection

One of the most common ways for your data to be stolen is via a public internet connection and unsecure web addresses.

As AI security technology develops, however, systems can learn how to prevent such scams and attacks from happening in the future based on experience.

In short – They can learn from their mistakes and change their algorithms accordingly.

3. Real-Time ID Verification

One of the most exciting aspects of AI and its war on identity theft is real-time ID verification possibilities.

Traditionally, companies and authorities would request a physical passport or driver’s license to confirm identity.

However, with real-time ID verification, a now fully ‘digital passport’ would be used to check identity at any moment in time.

This makes things virtually impossible for hackers to create a duplicate passport or identity document as by the time it has been created, your passport photo and details have already changed.

4. Biometric and Metadata = No Passwords and More Secure

The next evolution of KYC and advancement that’s going to save a tonne of time in the future.

As biometric and metadata technology improves our need for passwords will lessen and even become obsolete.

This type of data will track our behavior to a point so specific, that any unauthorized access attempt outside of this will be virtually impossible.

Hacking Gets Harder

If AI progresses and develops to the point, as we have discussed above, hackers will require the same if not better technology to extract information.

Due to the rate at which this technology will need to be developed and maintained, not to mention costs, this alone will make things next to impossible for hackers.