Youverify introduces YouID, a service that enables Africans to easily verify their identity online
Youverify introduces YouID, a service that enables Africans to easily verify their identity online
Youverify, an identity verification company, has launched YouID, a new app that enables people to securely store and access their personal identification documents from anywhere. The app was launched in Lagos State's Vibranium Valley.
Identity theft and related scams have increased in popularity, especially as more people use the internet for financial transactions and other critical activities. To avert this, unique identifiers such as the National Identification Number and the Bank Verification Number are now required before individuals in the country can initiate certain transactions.
However, instances in which people misplace their documents or are unable to access them when they are required have created a need for documents to be accessible digitally.
While documents can be stored on Google Drive and other free cloud storage services, YouID takes things a step further by integrating merchants. Users who have uploaded identification documents can use the app's merchants without having to verify their identity repeatedly.
Gbenga Odegbami, CEO of Youverify, stated: "The purpose of YouID is to ensure that no one has to upload the same documents twice."
Africa is making a concerted effort to ensure that citizens can easily verify their identities online. Smile Identity raised a $7 million round two weeks ago to scale its product, which enables Africans to prove their identity online.
How YouID operates
YouID will begin in Nigeria and expand to other African countries to ensure merchants can reach out to customers without fear of receiving forged identification documents.
Youverify's app utilizes computer vision and artificial intelligence to determine remotely whether the user is who they claim to be. Anyone who signs up is required to take and upload a selfie to the app. Following that, identity documents such as the NIN slip, international passport, and driver's license will be uploaded. The app analyzes the selfie as well as the image captured in the documents that the user uploads using a proprietary algorithm.
Once the images are determined to belong to the same person, YouID provides the user with a credence score on the dashboard, allowing the user to patronize platform sellers.
In discussing the app's features, Odegbami stated, "The platform is intelligent enough to inform the user if they have been hacked using any of their passwords."
YouSecure is one of the app's features. It functions similarly to other authenticating apps, allowing the user to store passwords for various websites as well as generate tokens for sign-in.
If another device signs in to any of the platforms to which the user has connected YouID without using a token, the user is notified that he or she has been hacked. Instagram and Facebook are frequent targets of hackers, and by connecting them to YouID for authentication, they can gain an additional layer of security.
Your data is safe with YouID
The app is a synthesis of several functions. It is a digital wallet for storing and accessing critical documents; a marketplace for merchants; a multi-factor authenticator; a platform for Know Your Customer (KYC); an address tracker; and a data breach notification app.
According to Michael Oragwa, Product Manager at Youverify, "despite the numerous use cases for YouID, what we are launching is a single product." It is a secure digital wallet that enables you to store your sensitive personal information in a way that is inaccessible to others.
“Consider it a complete replacement for your physical identification,” he advised. It is a digital pen that can be used to fill out digital forms.”
When a user uploads information and documents, they are stored on the user's phone and can be backed up to the Google drive associated with the account. Each individual chooses who they want to share their information with. This control absolves YouID or Youverify of any liability in the event that data is mishandled.
According to Odegbami, "the user retains complete control over their data; all we're doing is providing a secure mechanism for that data to be accessible when it's needed."
To allay fears that YouID will follow the lead of other large technology companies such as Facebook in selling user data to third-party companies, Youverify's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Famous Ehichioya stated that this will not be the case. “We do not sell your data to merchants; you choose which merchants to give your data to in order to access their service,” he explained.
The user can revoke the access they grant if they so desire. They can also delete their data from YouID, but this does not mean that their information will be automatically removed from merchants who already have it. Ehichioya explained that before deleting the account from the app, the user must manually revoke access to the details from each merchant that has access.
