Verify API unifies 7 powerful verification channels to fortify businesses against the rising threats of bots, fake users, and fraudsters
LOS ANGELES – MARCH 26, 2024 – In response to the escalating threat of cyber fraud and rising SMS costs, Telesign, the leading provider of customer identity and engagement solutions, today announced the launch of Verify API. This new omnichannel API integrates seven leading user verification channels: SMS, Silent Verification, Push, Email, WhatsApp, Viber, and RCS (Rich Communication Services) into a unified API. With a single integration, Telesign’s Verify API enables businesses to effortlessly scale new authentication channels with minimal development resources.
This future-proofed technology marks a significant milestone in the fight against fraudulent activities. With built-in defense against SMS vulnerabilities, such as social engineering, phishing, and SIM-based attacks, the Verify API offers a better, more secure end-user verification experience.
In an era where the cost of SMS continues to fluctuate unpredictably, Verify API offers a stable, predictable solution. It equips businesses with a diverse range of authentication channels that provide a more predictable cost structure. This cost-effective approach not only helps in mitigating risks associated with over-reliance on any single communication channel but also ensures that businesses can maintain affordability without compromising on security.
With Verify API, businesses can customize the verification and authentication experience by market needs, customer preferences, or business priorities with peace of mind—and with automatic multichannel fallback.
“One thing that phishing attempts, social engineering schemes, and account takeovers have in common is that they can often be stopped at the ‘front door’ with powerful customer authentication technologies,” said Telesign CEO Christophe Van de Weyer. “Our goal with Verify API is to empower every company on earth to seamlessly select the newest, most-secure, and customer-friendly verification channels for their specific use-cases. By doing that, we will make the digital world a safer place for everyone.”
According to the 2023 Telesign Trust Index, 94% of consumers believe that the companies they engage with online have a responsibility to protect their digital privacy. With the influx of bots, fake users, and fraudsters, authenticating new login and sign-up attempts is more critical than ever. If ignored, fraudsters can carry out nefarious acts such as new account fraud and account takeover, as well as make unauthorized account changes. The consequences of these attacks are significant, causing financial, reputational and resource losses for both the business and customer.
With Verify API, Telesign makes it easy to mitigate risk and streamline verification. Developers only need to connect to one API to access seven verification channels. Extensive channels allow for the end-user to be verified on their preferred channel, which supports a positive end-user experience. Automatic fallbacks to the customer’s preferred channel also ensure that end-users will receive a one-time password (OTP), no matter their original verification method or geographic location.
“In today’s digital economy, fraud is prevalent in every corner and safeguarding end-users from potential online threats is more important than ever,” said Chris Steffen, vice president of research at Enterprise Management Associates. “Integrated solutions that deliver more protection and an enhanced user experience not only protects businesses but also fosters trust among its end-users.”
Key features
- A single API: Verify API is a turnkey API that unifies seven verification channels, making the verification experience better for your end-users and developers.
- Multiple channels with automatic fallback: Verify API makes channel configuration quick and easy. Simply select the preferred and fallback channels per country without the need for development work or integration.
- Global coverage: Verify every end-user’s phone number no matter where they are in the world. Trust that if the primary verification methods fail, verification will automatically fallback to the customer’s preferred channel.
7 verification channels
The seven verification channels covered by Verify API include:
- Silent Verification: Silent Verification works behind the scenes to authenticate end-users’ phone numbers and deliver a frictionless user experience, without burdening end-users with OTPs authenticator apps and hardware tokens.
- Push Verify: Streamline authentication with Push Verify. End-users can easily approve or deny access with a simple tap in the business’s app.
- WhatsApp, Viber, and RCS: OTT (Over-The-Top) channels offer robust end-to-end encryption — which means only the sender and receiver can read them. For more security, these channels also offer a “verified” check mark to confirm the sender’s legitimacy — important in an era in which phishing and social engineering are commonplace. And with stable, predictable pricing, OTT channels are an attractive alternative to rising SMS costs.
- Email: Leverage the ubiquity of email for delivering OTP messages. It’s one of the most cost-effective verification channels, and it’s already integrated into end-users’ daily lives.
- SMS: Deliver phone-based verification using SMS OTPs. Secure, single-use SMS verification codes add reliable protection to your business and serve as a dependable fallback for alternative verification channels.
For more information on Verify API, please visit here.
About Telesign
Telesign provides Continuous Trust™ to leading global enterprises by connecting, protecting, and defending their digital identities. Telesign verifies over five billion unique phone numbers a month, representing half of the world’s mobile users, and provides insights into the remaining billions. The company’s powerful machine learning and extensive data science deliver identity risk recommendations with a unique combination of speed, accuracy, and global reach. Telesign solutions provide fraud protection, secure communications, and enable the digital economy by helping companies and customers to engage with confidence.
Learn more at www.telesign.com and follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Telesign.
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Media Contacts
Lauren Ward, Director, Global Public Relations
Telesign
