Identiq today announced a virtual summit that for the first time brought together 17 of the biggest names in payments, retail, ridesharing, online marketplaces, apartment-sharing, gaming and financial services — including Blackhawk Network, Eventbrite, Gett, Green Man Gaming, Intuit, PayU, Plastiq, Udemy and Via — to discuss ways of boosting online trust and privacy while battling fraud and increasing safety. The Identiq Member Summit took place online on March 31, 2020.
The companies who took part in the Summit demonstrated a commitment to go beyond current norms to fight identity theft, help the “unbanked” population and build customer trust, all with privacy as the center of discussion. They explored how to reimagine identity validation by collaborating to build better trust among business peers while reducing data exposure.
New technologies mean that companies can collaborate directly on an entirely new level, without sharing any personal user data at all. These businesses are looking at innovative ways to pull techniques from the sphere of academic mathematics and use them to make users’ lives smoother and safer.
“This first sounded almost too good to be true,” said Vlad Branin, GM Global Business Operations at Gett. “As I learned more, I came to the conclusion that this really is possible; I was hooked. The combination of network effect and anonymization should provide a very, very high level of confidence for business decision-makers. I can’t wait to see the possibilities of Identiq realized.”
“I know this kind of approach can work, but have not seen it done in this way where it’s encrypted and then sent out anonymously,” said Arielle Caron, Head of Risk Product and Risk Data Science for Blackhawk Network. “I’m very excited about this, and we’re looking forward to partnering with all of the amazing brands in the Summit.”
Michal Yair, Product Lead for PayU spoke about the ease of onboarding Identiq, stating, “After three days, I was able to demonstrate a working integration. It was quite amazing. Creating better solutions for underbanked communities is at the heart of what we do, so joining the Summit made perfect sense.”
At the Summit, award-winning cryptography expert Professor Ran Canetti explained why decades of academic research were finally able to culminate in real life innovation. Many participants at the Identiq Member Summit noted their excitement to be exploring an entirely new approach to fighting fraud. This emphasis on innovation is reflected in the fact that Gartner recently named Identiq a Cool Vendor 2020. Cool Vendors are chosen specifically for their innovative qualities.
