Announcing Enhanced Signer Identification, for When eSign Isn't Enough

As more business moves online, technology is complicating how we trust one another. Internet fraud topped $10 billion in 2022, and with regular advancements in Artificial Intelligence technologies like deepfakes, virtual interactions have become harder to trust.

In a digital-first world, businesses need to be sure that they’re interacting with legitimate customers. They need to know: 

• Who signed the document
• How the person proved their identity
• If their signature is real or fake
• And is there any suspicion for fraud 

We launched Proof to secure all signatures, whether it required a basic eSign, a notarization, or a new way to sign with NIST IAL2 identity verification behind every signature. In our previous announcement, we shared that these transactions have the ability to step up to a human for review: the trusted referee. 

Today we are announcing the availability of Enhanced Signer Identification, because at the end of a transaction, a signed document is not enough. You need evidence that a person actually signed; you need proof. 

Here’s how we’re building stronger evidence into every transaction.

Full Insight into Signer Identities

Enhanced Signer Identification is available for Proof transactions and online notarizations.

Proof transactions begin with an automated identity verification process, which involves SMS authentication, uploading forms of ID, and capturing a selfie for ID comparison. If Proof’s machine learning and AI can verify the signer’s identity based on this information, the signer is given instant access to their document, where they can review and sign on the dotted line.

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Online notarizations help combat fraud by generating signer security questions and ID analysis ahead of the notary meeting. Signers who pass the automated identity checks move onto the notary meeting, where the notary verifies their identity and witnesses their signature on the document.

Once the signer completes the document, a business can review the Enhanced Signer Identification tied to the transaction by selecting the new Identity tab from within the Transaction Details modal.

The information captured in the Identity tab includes:

Detailed signer information. Proof captures each identity verification attempt by each individual on a given transaction. This includes basic information like their name, email address, and telephone number. It also reflects whether they were able to pass the credential analysis and selfie comparison steps in the automated identity verification workflow.

A timeline of events. Proof now offers a new identity timeline for each transaction, which gives your business insight into the signer’s identity verification journey at a quick glance. The timeline reflects the identity verification steps, when they were completed, and the information provided. This provides an audit trail of the verification process.

The chosen form(s) of ID: The Proof platform displays the form(s) of ID used to complete credential analysis and pass the selfie comparison. We give your business tools to inspect the ID – the ability to rotate, zoom, etc. – just like you would review the ID in person.

And it won’t stop there. We’ll continue to add rich data to the Identity tab. In the future, this is where Proof will display risk scores and any other information that includes device information, location, email age, phone data, and other data points.

Trust Behind Every Signature

Through our Enhanced Signer Identification, your business now has more evidence behind who signs your documents. This will help prove compliance, provide data to courts, and also be another insight that helps you determine if this is a genuine customer.

The information we collect in the Enhanced Signer Identification process will help your business: 

• Have confidence that your customer signed. 
• Show compliance, or have data that proves an identity verification was performed correctly. 
• Identify cases where the customer may not be legitimate.
• Have additional evidence if there’s a dispute or question on whether or not a signature is fake.

With advancements in technology, it’s now becoming harder to distinguish real from fake. Businesses have documents with a signature on a page, but how do you know that’s real? 

It’s not enough to only have a completed document. With Proof, we are solving this problem by tying strong identity verification to strong evidence, so that when you get a signature back you will always know if it’s something you can trust.