Equifax, the consumer and business insights expert, has launched Equifax Progressive Authentication, a suite of ID and fraud solutions which helps reduce an organisation’s exposure to fraud without impacting its service levels for genuine customers.   

Equifax Progressive Authentication allows businesses to determine the appropriate level of security and identification checks for their customers based on their own policies as well as elements such as the type of product being accessed and associated risk.

The suite of solutions includes four underlying products: Equifax Identity Verifier, Equifax Bank Account Verifier, Equifax Device Verifier and Equifax Fraud Protector. These can be combined and accessed through a customisable interface which streamlines the process for authenticating customers.

John Marsden, Identity and Fraud expert at Equifax, says: “Recent hacking incidents have highlighted the risks of personal details falling into the wrong hands and identity fraud poses a huge threat to businesses and individuals, with reported cases up by 27% in the first quarter of 2015 alone*.  

“Failing to appropriately screen customers can incur significant financial losses for any type of business as well leading to long-term damage to their brand as consumers may be put at increased risk. Balancing this against the demands of good customers to be serviced immediately and with the least friction means that a business can be protected and still maximise their customer experience, boarding more genuine customers swiftly.

“Equifax Progressive Authentication has been created to help organisations identify genuine customers and screen out fraudsters. The solution can be fully customised to suit individual business needs while at the same time protecting the customer experience. It’s of paramount importance organisations run all the relevant checks to verify customers’ identity, but it must not compromise or alienate your real customers or there is a risk of losing sales. Our solution bridges this gap, allowing businesses to tailor the checks that they carry out according to the level of risk and value of the product involved.”

The Equifax Progressive Authentication suite comprises:

• Equifax Identity Verifier – provides reliable, robust and instant identity authentication by checking that an identity exists at the address provided and cross-checking against a range of industry-leading databases, such as the UK’s fraud prevention service Cifas, and also assists with compliance to anti-money laundering regulations. As required the solution will ask a series of shared secret questions that only the customer should know the answer to.
• Equifax Bank Account Verifier – validates a customer’s identity and confirms whether the bank account details provided are correct and valid.
• Equifax Device Verifier –assesses the risk of fraud associated with any device being used to make online purchases, including smartphones, desktops, laptops and tablets.
• Equifax Fraud Protector –provides businesses with information as to whether an individual has been associated with fraudulent applications.

* Figures from the latest quarterly report from Cifas https://www.cifas.org.uk/id_fraud_first_quarter