IronVest bets on biometric AI to stop identity theft

The challenge of safeguarding identity is becoming increasingly difficult. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there were nearly 1.4 million reports of identity theft in 2021.

In an era where identity theft is so common and passwords are openly sold on the dark web, biometric authentication is becoming critical to verifying users’ identities.

Biometric authentication providers like Iron Vestwhich today announced it has closed a $23 million seed funding round led by Accomplice, is turning to biometric authentication and artificial intelligence (AI) to verify users’ identities online.

IronVest’s solution provides enterprises with a biometric password manager and uses AI to continuously verify employee identities after login to ensure security. The approach provides enterprises with a definitive answer to account takeovers, credential theft and social engineering attempts.

Stop identity theft with AI

With over 15 billion passwords stored on the dark web Every year it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional credentials are not effective in keeping unauthorized users out.

“Consumers and employees are increasingly faced with sophisticated cyberattacks such as SimSwap, corporate email compromise, personal information/identity theft and malware, all designed to allow fraudsters to take over their accounts,” said Avi Turgeman, co-founder and CEO of IronVest.

Turgeman added: “Enterprise security approaches focus on protecting the infrastructure and network, but not the employee. Password managers are designed for convenience, not as a security solution – they can be easily circumvented. As a result, the main reason for data breaches compromised account data.”

IronVest aims to address these challenges by eliminating critical vulnerabilities in business defense, by reducing reliance on passwords in favor of biometric authentication factors, which cannot be harvested by threat actors. The supplier’s biometric authentication is based on a proprietary technology called AuthenticAction.

AuthenticAction uses decentralized biometric AI and other recording techniques to ensure the authenticity of users’ digitally performed actions, and monitors user activity after login for signs of malicious activity. This means that it can detect if an attacker is starting to act maliciously, for example by collecting sensitive data.

Evaluation of the biometric authentication market

Biometric authentication is emerging as an increasingly popular solution to tackle the rise in identity theft, with researchers anticipating the biometric system market will grow from $42.9 billion in 2022 to $82.9 billion in 2027.

Even traditional password management providers love LastPass have begun experimenting with biometric authentication, allowing companies to combine two-factor authentication with additional steps of biometric authentication.

Elliott Management’s private equity firm and Franceso Partners developed LastPass after taking parent company LogMeIn private for $4.3 billion in December 2021.

Another competitor setting its sights on biometric authentication is the Identity Access Management (IAM) provider oktawho offers integration with HYPR for passwordless authentication. The company recently announced that it has raised $383 million in revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022.

Despite the competitive landscape, Turgeman believes IronVest’s proprietary biometric AI sets it apart from other password management providers on the market, as it is capable of securing not only online accounts but also a user’s digital identity.

“We believe that tools that manage passwords are not enough to truly protect employees from fraudulent access to accounts,” Turgeman said. “IronVest is focused on protecting the individual and being more secure than the accounts it protects.”