To understand the methodologies of the authentication world, CIO LOOK Featured a journey to find The 10 Most Trusted Authentication Solution Providers 2021.

1. On the Way to Enable a True Passwordless World
Secured Access
Passwordless- Shaping
the Future of
Authentication
Advancing
Exponentially
The Evolution of
Authentication
Ismet Geri
Chief Executive Officer
The 10 Most Trusted
Authentication
Solution Providers
of 2021
VOL 12 I ISSUE 03 I 2021
www.ciolook.com

4. Securing Your
Digital World
n today’s broad landscape of the ever-evolving digital world,
Ithe importance of access authentication services has increased
exponentially. From Internet Protocol (IP) authentication,
embedded URLs, barcode patterns, two-step verifications, and
much more, the authentication methods have improved over time
to mitigate the looming threats of data breaches and cyberattacks.
Learning from a very frightening experience of the data breach
that led to proceeding unauthorized transactions, making me
despair and dire at the same time. That incident proved to be an
eye-opener, making me aware of various things that I should have
done to protect digital identity and data. The rise in the number of
severe data breaches ranging from individual to large corporate
organizations is directing a course to improve the authentication
experience, raising multiple levels of assurance. To provide such
safety, leading authentication providers consistently prioritize
increasing security and improving usability.
Considering newer technologies and analyzing the risk that may
occur, the authentication industry is thriving to deliver discrete
services offering multi-factor authentication with the inclusion of
Artificial Intelligence. The adaptive learning of AI assists in
determining the real users differing from the one claiming to gain
request access, the prime example of it being the face unlock
method of verification. AI evaluates and contemplates several
attributes, canceling the risk of vulnerable data. In our day-to-day
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. life, we are prompted through emails, calls, and one-time passwords (OTPs) to login into several apps
promoting the usage of intelligent and robust authentication methods.
We all are familiar with the unlocking system of biometrics that most of us have access to because of our
smartphones; AI studies native and behavioral biometrics to provide a framework of user patterns. Apart
from AI, there are many secure methods such as VPN, geo-location, device ID, etc., that can meet the
authentication criteria. However, this is simply the tip of the iceberg of the authentication industry, while
the hummock of authentication mechanisms provides the strong foundation for the constant changes
arising with digitalization.
To understand the methodologies of the authentication world, CIO LOOK embarked on a journey to find
“The 10 Most Trusted Authentication Solution Providers 2021.” We came across the organizations
implementing innovative ways to secure our digital life leading towards a better tomorrow. We urge you to
meticulously go through the featuring profiles in the edition to gain insights into their different
methodologies.
Also, look through the articles written by our in-house editorial team focusing on shaping the future of
authentication; last but not least, learn more about the industry through the CxO written by experts.
Delve in!
Aditya Gaikar
THE

6. Veridium
On the Way to Enable a True Passwordless World
08
C O N T E N T S
Y
R
O
T
S
R
E
V
O
C

7. Advancing
Exponentially
The Evolution of
Authentication
20 28
ARTICLES
Secured
Access
Passwordless-
Shaping the Future of Authentication
16
Airome
Enabling Businesses to Provide User-friendly, Secured,
and Cost-effective Digital Banking Services
32
Global ID SA
Using the Keys in Your Hands
24
Aware Inc.
Own Your Identity
36
Panini
A Respected Player in the Financial
Technology Space

8. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Executive Editors Aditya Gaikar
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Kartik Balapurkar
Associate Designer Shyam Sonawane
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Sagar, Dharmendra
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
December, 2021
Copyright © 2021 CIOLOOK, All
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Research Analyst Eric Smith
SEO Executive Nikita Khaladkar

9. Brief
Company Name
Ping Identity
pingidentity.com
Veridium
veridiumid.com
Airome Technologies
airome.tech
IDMERIT
idmerit.com
Airome Technologies is a Singapore-based developer of
cybersecurity solutions.
Ping Identity delivers intelligent identity solutions for the
enterprise.
Veridium is the most comprehensive Integrated Identity
Platform powered by AI-based Behavioural Biometrics,
enabling MFA, digital ID verification, and a true enterprise-
grade passwordless experience for employees and customers.
IDMERIT is committed to the ongoing development and
delivery of the most cost-effective and comprehensive global
identity verification solutions available today.
Authy
authy.com
Authy provides strong authentication for the connected world,
protecting people and the enterprise against malicious attacks.
Daniel Palacio
CEO
Denis Kalemberg
Co-founder and CEO
Tony Raval
CEO
Aware Inc.
aware.com
Aware is a leading global provider of biometrics software
products, services, and solutions.
Bob Eckel
President and CEO
LetFaster
letfaster.tech
LetFaster, a division of LetFaster Limited, is the only
automated platform to offer real-time Biometric Identity
Verification and fully automated Tenant Screening.
Sara Statman
CEO
Ismet Geri
CEO
FACETEC
facetec.com
FaceTec is the world leader in 3D Face Liveness & Matching
software.
Kevin Alan Tussy
CEO
Andre Durand
CEO
Global ID SA
global-id.swiss
With Global ID technology, organisations no longer need to
annoy consumers and citizen with a jungle of pseudo-
authentication questions and steps, making processes faster and
easier.
Lambert Sonna Ph.D
CEO
Panini
panini.com
Panini enables clients to capitalize on shifts in the global
payments processing market.
Richard Kane
CEO
Featuring Person

10. Ismet Geri
CEO
Veridium
C o v e r S t o r y

11. Veridium
On the Way to Enable a True Passwordless World
We help businesses excel in their
digital authentication
management and as a result the
way the users of their systems,
employees or customers, live the
experience through patented,
leading passwordless digital
identity solutions.

12. I
n today's digitized world, it is a must to secure one's
data. Though, the traditional methods of protecting
digital devices have become pretty predictable and
make them more vulnerable to threats.
Data breaches and use of this data for ransomware are
the most common and dangerous threats. Thus, to
prevent such catastrophes, several organizations are
constantly trying to innovate technologies that would
be effective. However, Veridium has already innovated
and improved upon the traditional methods and
developed a most comprehensive integrated
authentication platform.
Veridium is utilizing its technology to lead as a
passwordless authentication company.
We, at CIO Look, caught up with Ismet Geri, the Chief
Executive Officer of Veridium, to know more about the
company and how it helps companies establish trusted
identities, optimize user experience, and stay compliant
with diverse regulations
The Journey into Authentication
Veridium started in 2016 with a mission to be the
original passwordless multi-factor authentication
company, realizing that there has to be a better way to
authenticate users.
Traditional multi-factor authentication depends on
something you know, have, or are. Out of these factors,
the “something you know” has been the most prevalent
method of authenticating individuals from a sentry
requiring a password when allowing someone inside
the wire to one’s financial institutions requiring a
password to grant the digital access to one’s funds.
Having an extensive background and patents in
computer vision and neural network processing,
Veridium has envisioned a better way of authentication,
which grants a natural way that is more powerful and
transparent. The company calls it the path of
recognition.
This path of recognition follows not from one or more
traditional factors. However, it employs location,
behavior, and history to increase trust levels while
reducing friction to establish that trust for the end-
user.
Veridium ID authentication platform enables
organizations to get rid of passwords from their
application, websites, and web services, by employing
• Device-independent biometrics capability
• AI-driven behavioral analysis
• Time-dependent anomaly detection
• Use of rich contextual data points to assign trust
levels
• Supporting and implementing interoperable
standards, i.e., FIDO2
Currently, Veridium's mission is to eliminate passwords,
eliminate credential theft, eliminate credential fraud,
eliminate synthetic identity fraud, and enable simple,
secure, and delightful user experiences.
Astute Leadership
Leading the team of dedicated professionals is Ismet
Geri, a cybersecurity and seasoned identity executive
expert. He is experienced in building and scaling
software vendors' businesses from start-ups to publicly
traded companies. In his previous role, Ismet saw the
proliferation of digital transformation projects and
realized that Identity is the bedrock for every digital
interaction.
Ismet looked around and saw a mishmash of solutions,
but they were all missing the true need, the need to
provide a friction-free, delightful and secure user
experience. Under his leadership, Veridium has
invested and created biometric technology so that the
user only has to enroll once and then can use their
Veridium provides an end-to-end
authentication platform for all your WFH needs.

13. biometrics for authentication from multiple
endpoints. (e.g., one could enroll their facial
biometric on the phone and can then use it on a tablet
or a PC/laptop with a web camera.)
With Veridium vFace, users don't need expensive or
specialized cameras or specific operating systems.
Being a big proponent of standards, Ismet also
championed support for FIDO-compliant ID badges,
enabling password-free, touch-free, tap-and-go
experience for modern access, both for physical and
logical access. With his vast sales experience and ability
to build global sales teams, Ismet leads from the front
as Veridium moves into its next chapter of growth.
An Outstanding Approach
Veridium believes that the future of digital interaction
should require no credentials. It stands firm on all
passwords to be eliminated from user experience and
wants identity theft, fraud, and phishing to go the way
of the old. It is all possible if there is a shift from
authentication into recognition by employing not just
the three factors but bringing in rich context around
behavior, location, and action. When applied
intelligently, there will increase security while elevating
the user experience.
Veridium created an identity platform to solve this
problem. Its platform is a collection of capabilities that
work together to make authentication simple, secure,
and most importantly, transparent, and user-friendly.
These capabilities are:
• Supporting a large variety of authenticators and
striving to support legacy authenticators, modern
authenticators, and of course, its own in-house
authenticators. This approach is important because it
allows for easy adoption, easy migration, and no rip
and replaces. It supports the end-users where they
are comfortable.
• Veridium solutions don't force a user to require a
phone or token. Its app-less methods can provide
secure multi-factor authentication without having to
download any application. Its approach to user
biometrics does not insist on specialized hardware; it
can enable a windows hello type experience for all
users across all devices and operating systems.
• Its orchestration engine creates a tailored and secure
end-user experience by using a variety of inputs
about the user, the endpoint, and the context of the
task at hand.
• Veridium then goes beyond the traditional factors
used in Multi-factor authentication, by adding
context. This context includes user behavior, past vs.
present, device biometrics, how the user and device
interact, and user location. It then brings its machine
learning capability to bear; analyzing behaviour, user-
device interaction, and endpoint sensors to craft a
living baseline for anomaly detection.
• Lastly, it integrates with all existing Identity and

14. access control systems so the customer can preserve
their investment in capital, people, training,
processes. It enables transparent, simple, secure
passwordless access to all applications and web
services.
Gaining a Competitive Edge
Veridium's DNA is passwordless. It has designed its
authentication platform to eliminate passwords from
the ground up. The company's straightforward
solutions make it a preferred choice amongst its
customers.
Veridiums supports a large variety of authenticators as
it allows for easy adoption, easy migration, no rip, and
replacements, making it comfortable for the end-users.
The company understands that the users are equally
suffering from app fatigue as much as password and
account fatigue. That is why it designed an app-less way
for users to have strong passwordless authentication.
The company integrates with all existing Identity and
access control systems so the customer can preserve
their investment in capital, people, training, processes.
It goes beyond the traditional factors used in multi-
factor authentication by adding context, which
includes,
• A neural net that studies the behavior of normal
user/device and user/application
• Device biometrics to know the user and device
interactions
• User location
• Network characteristics
Veridium’s approach to using biometrics does not
require specialized hardware. Additionally, it is the only
vendor to offer tight integration with Citrix, such that
its customers can do strong passwordless
authentication into their Citrix storefront and
applications without the added complexity of Citrix FAS
(Federated Authentication Service).
The Technological Overview
We asked Ismet his opinion on the necessity for
businesses to align their offerings with newer
technological developments, to which he mentions that
technology is embedded into and a part of every aspect
of business today. Businesses are continuously seeming
to increase their spend on technology, and they have
high expectations in return. These expectations go
beyond compliance. For a business to be compliant,
they need to spend the minimum amount necessary.
This also means that there is a disconnect between the
business and IT/compliance functions.
All Your Passwordless Needs in One Place.

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18. U
ndoubtedly, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of
digitalization. Businesses, as well as consumers, have
adapted to the new norm of the pandemic by choosing e-
commerce and contactless online services for their essential
activities. This transformation is being spearheaded by mobile, as
it is the perfect platform to carry out such transactions.
|December 2021 |
16
Denis Kalemberg
Co-founder and CEO
Airome Technologies
www.ciolook.com

19. Enabling Businesses to Provide User-friendly, Secured, and
Cost-effective Digital Banking Services
“Our solution lowers the risk of unauthorized transactions
caused by man-in-the-middle, phishing, or social
engineering attacks.”
However, this shift has also added pressure on organizations to manage various levels of fraud related to the
transactions. What these organizations are looking for is an option to provide clients with a trusted security solution
on one hand and keep user-experience in a digital environment on another hand.
This is where Airome Technologies steps in.
Airome Technologies is a Singapore-based developer of cybersecurity solutions for digital banking and e-document
management systems. Its solutions provide its clients with a highly secured and easy mechanism to protect
payments generated via any digital channels, such as Internet banking, mobile banking, card-not-presented (CNP)
operations such as online shopping, private banking, and so on. Its technology has a vast deployment footprint
covering 300 000 legal entities and more than 2 million private individuals around the globe.
At CIO Look, we caught up with Denis Kalemberg, the Co-founder and CEO of Airome, to know more
about the company.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Give us a brief overview of AIROME, its mission, and
the key aspects of its strong foothold in the
authentication industry.
AIROME is a young innovative company with talented
people passionate about modern IT technologies and
the cybersecurity sphere.
In modern realities, we are more and more shifting to
digital interaction. Our smartphone is becoming like our
third hand. In addition to shopping and driving on social
networks, we interact with financial institutions where
the aspect of the payments' security is especially
important. As you know, the weakest point of the digital
financial service is a user. That is why it is critical to
implement strong security mechanisms on the client
side. In this perspective authentication is the significant
non-separating part of a modern digital bank. But how
to choose the right tools, you may ask. Well, nowadays,
we can definitely divide authentication methods
performed in a digital financial services into old-
fashioned and modern. The disadvantages of old
fashioned such as SMS OTP, push notifications,
|December 2021 |
17
www.ciolook.com

20. hardware or software OTP generators, static PINs, or
even scratch-cards have been described many times.
Nobody wants to look for their USB-tokens, smartcards
or any kind of hardware OTP-token while confirming a
money transfer in online-bank. As well, nobody wants
to wait for SMS or retype one-time passwords for
transaction confirmation or passing the log-in process
in online bank. In many cases OTP is not only user-
friendly but also not secure as they have many technical
and technological vulnerabilities and can be high-jacked
via social engineering, phishing, etc. In addition, it is
expensive not only for maintenance but the high risks
of fraud cases. Do you think that any business is ready
to take risks for billions?
Our specialists not only follow the development of the
industry but also study criminal cases happening
around the world to then refine and enhance our
services.
Therefore, our mission is to provide simple and highly
effective authentication tools without compromising
user experience or user interface for any type of bank
client – corporate or retail, for online and mobile bank,
online shopping operations and etc.
Describe your top-notch solutions and products that
address the need of your customers.
The core solution is PayConfirm – an omni-channel
platform that performs mobile transaction
authentication signature (mTAS) to authenticate or
confirm any type of operations, including transactions
or e-documents, on a mobile device.
In the core of a signature, generated by PayConfirm,
there are asymmetric cryptographic algorithms, which
means that a bank itself doesn't store clients' keys,
while digital keys — so-called “private keys” — are
generated and stored in client's smartphone and cannot
be “intercepted” as well as reproduced by any third
|December 2021 |
18
www.ciolook.com

21. party. Because of this, our solution provides clients with
a high level of security and an easy way to protect their
payments, generated via any digital channels, such as
Internet banking, mobile banking, CNP operations,
private banking.
What makes AIROME a preferred choice among your
clientele over other competitors?
Well, we are informed that there are a number of quite
similar solutions on the market. Some of them are made
by well-known international brands. As for PayConfirm,
it is like a well-proven recipe in the kitchen, where the
main result depends on the balance. Our solution is an
ideal combination of parameters for end-users as well
as for service providers like Banks or FinTech. Going
deeper into the privileges for each category, end-user
get a better user experience, high level of security.
The company receives 30% reduction of annual cost for
hardware tokens and maintenance costs, much better
protection from fraud, social engineering, SIM swap or
etc., risk-based authentication approach available.
Additionally, AIROME was named in the Market Guide
for User Authentication. The guide contains a
comprehensive list of user authentication vendors who
are meant to provide security and risk management
leaders responsible for IAM.
From a business leadership perspective, what is your
opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the
digital banking sector and the related market?
Now it is obvious that many businesses are going to
transform to digital format. We see how fast retail,
FMSG, banks sectors, and others started to expand
their online presence. People want to feel secure and
safe, but at the same time, we see that this business
format brings risks, financial almost. Companies should
provide secure services, especially if we are talking
about the banking sector.
Describe the values that drive your organization.
We are personally accountable for what we do.
Partnership relations is our top priority. We are
passionate about information technologies and
upgrade our knowledge every time.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the digital
banking market post the COVID-19 pandemic? And
how are you strategizing your company's operations
for that future?
Definitely, COVID-19 transformed our habits and
lifestyle. This became a great impulse for banks to
develop their services in hard environment and proper
competition. Such a competition will work positively to
all of us.
We do expect the reduction of branch-offices and a
great shift of new forms of service provision. Little by
little it becomes a new normal to pass banking on-
boarding or sign for new services digitally, using trusted
technologies. We are proud to support our clients in
their competition for the leadership in their markets, as
for leaders it is essential to provide clients with a better
user experience with a highly secure protection from
the most popular cyberattacks. So, our strategy is to
help more clients to create our digital future – and our
part in it is to make this future secure.
In what ways have you or your company contributed
to the community?
Being an international company, we do understand the
importance of communication with local associations.
Airome has a close relationship with local associations
in the countries of presence. It is our pleasure to share
the expertise we have. Besides, we are happy to
support governmental projects, so we do expect that
good and protected services may be available to
everyone and simplify our daily life.
What are your future aspirations? Where do you see
Airome in the next five years?
We expect to have Head Quarters in Latin America,
Europe, and the Middle East, with among the top 10
banks in each region.
|December 2021 |
19
www.ciolook.com

22. AUTHE
Advancing Exponentially
|December 2021 |
20
www.ciolook.com

23. The Evolution of
ENTICATION
W
e are living in a world of digitalization.
Today, we do most of our transactions using
digital platforms. In the increasing world of
digitalization, there is a threat to the information we
share on digital platforms. Having secure
authentication methods that protect and preserve our
information without being exploited by unauthorized
people or hackers is the most important need in the
current times. Digitalization is making lives and
processes quicker and easier, but the threat to personal
and private information is also growing on the other
side. There is a need for secure authentication methods
to protect confidential information from hackers.
At the beginning of the computing era, we
authenticated ourselves by using usernames and
passwords to access websites and networks. This
password-based solution was good in the previous
times, but as the number of sites is multiplying and
mobile devices have become more common, there is a
need for evolved authentication methods to increase
security.
In the era of the need to access multiple websites and
with multiple accounts, the password-based approach
is a less efficient form of authentication method. The
trusted authentication solution providers are
innovating password-less authentication methods to
increase the security of the information and make login
processes easier for users, employees, and customers.
The authentication methods have evolved with the
changing times, and the old methods of using
usernames and passwords are getting replaced with the
evolved forms of authentication methods.
With the evolved cybersecurity threats and evolving
digital technologies, authentication methods have also
evolved to strengthen the security of the systems and
ensure the protection of the vital information of
businesses. A chief approach among the evolved
authentication methods is biometric technology for
validating user identity. The move from passwords to
fingerprint authentication is also becoming more
popular to prevent illegal people from accessing our
personal information.
With the evolution in biometric technology,
authentication using biometrics and fingerprints will
become a more evolved and secured authentication
method. Besides, verification using a mobile number
with a one-time password and verification of email id by
confirming a link sent on the email id is another secure
authentication method.
The benefits of passwordless authentication methods
are huge in enhancing the security of both customers
and users in organizations. The evolution of
passwordless methods is eliminating the problems
associated with the password-based approach. Earlier,
having weak passwords, poor management of
passwords, the threats due to default settings that
stores passwords, using the same password on
different websites and for different accounts, the need
to change the password frequently, the need to
remember all the passwords for all the different
websites and different accounts, etc. were some of the
problems with password-related authentication
method.
Thankfully, the evolved authentication methods are
much easier and user-friendly. The evolution of
passwordless authentication solutions is strengthening
the security of businesses, users, employees,
customers, and all involved stakeholders. Passwordless
modules are the present and future of the
authentication methods, and many businesses can
streamline their workflows effectively and update their
security with solutions from trusted authentication
solution providers. Identity management and
authenticity can be enhanced greatly with evolved
authentication solutions, and there can be increased
efficiency and smoothness in the processes.
|December 2021 |
21
www.ciolook.com

26. Bob Eckel
President and CEO
Aware Inc.
|December 2021 |
24
www.ciolook.com

27. Inc.
Own Your Identity
U
ser authentication is a key component in
millions of digital applications globally.
Primarily using passwords and security
questions, these methods were designed to keep user
data secure and private. Unfortunately, these
contemporary authentication methods have proven to
be fraud-prone and frustrating to use, and new,
stronger authentication methods have grown in
demand to combat the rising trends of identity theft
and data breaches. Biometric solutions provider Aware
Inc. aims to address these troubling trends, providing
its customers with a biometrically based authentication
option for greatly increased security and convenience.
Aware has been a leading global provider of biometrics
software products, solutions, and services for more
than 25 years. Bob Eckel, the President and CEO, leads
the charge as an established executive with a passion
for leadership, growth, and addressing today’s most
pressing digital identity concerns.
We at CIO LOOK caught up with Aware in our
endeavor to find “The 10 Most Trusted Authentication
Solution Providers, 2021.” We talked with Bob to gain
insights about how Aware is providing critical biometric
functionality for applications.
Let us dive right in.
Who is Aware
Aware’s industry-leading biometric technology helps
organizations across virtually any industry—from
financial services and enterprise security to
government, law enforcement and civil
identity—collect, manage, process, and match biometric
images and data for identification and authentication
purposes.
Aware’s mission is to bring biometric solutions to life so
that individuals and organizations can own their
identities. It involves utilizing biometric technology
such as facial or speaker (voice) recognition, to
empower people to control how their identity is being
used and do so in a secure, convenient way.
Aware is also at the forefront of today’s mobile
biometric identity management solutions, with direct
experience through its large installed base and in the
mobile world. Biometric technology has become
increasingly mobile, enabled by the cameras and
microphones found in today’s mobile devices to enroll
and authenticate individuals safely and securely from
virtually any location. Aware has enabled over 30
million biometrically powered mobile transactions in
2021 alone.
Unique Solutions and Applications
Bob expresses that historically, Aware has relied on
developing software development kits, often referred
to as SDKs. Aware’s proven SDKs function like building
blocks and create a foundation for engineering to build
a specific solution for a customer.
Aware has since assembled and configured these
building blocks into core business offerings that can be
marketed, sold and integrated directly by users,
developers, and integrators on both traditional and
SaaS-based models. Aware’s core offerings include:
• Knomi, a premier mobile biometric authentication
framework that enables enrollment,
authentication, document capture and verification,
and facial and voice matching for identity proofing.
Knomi uses mobile devices to conduct secure and
frictionless biometric enrollment and
|December 2021 |
25
www.ciolook.com

28. authentication without passwords. Knomi also
features passive liveness detection to determine
whether a user is a living person and not some
attempt to spoof the system (like a photo, mask or
video recording).
• BioSP is Aware’s industry-leading middleware
offering; a modular, open platform that enables
biometric systems with advanced biometric and
data processing and management functionality in a
web services architecture. It’s used by employers
and customers at scale to facilitate the secure
storage of identity data and coordinate between
authentication systems, and can be configured by
Aware or by the customer.
• AwareABIS is Aware’s automated biometric
identification system, providing a wide array of
biometric identification solutions for any sized civil
or law enforcement community. Supporting
fingerprint, face and iris recognition, AwareABIS is
a flexible, modular platform that can be aligned to a
variety of customer needs.
Customer Driven Philosophy
Aware has three primary values that drive its strong
relationships with its customers.
• Biometric Expertise: Aware prides itself on its
deep technical expertise spanning multiple decades
and leverages this expertise to help customers
achieve their specific goals and exceed their overall
expectations.
• Customer Intimacy: Aware builds long-lasting
relationships with its customers by anticipating and
understanding their ever-changing needs, with
complete rapid response and follow through.
• Ease of Conducting Business: Aware is easy for
customers to do business with, regardless of their
specific need, industry, or application. Customers
who do business with Aware can expect a fast,
flexible, and proven company that gives them the
attention they deserve.
Adoption of Newer Technologies
According to Bob, “It’s always a good rule of thumb to stay
on top of the latest technology advancements to ensure
your offerings remain applicable, available and desirable to
customers.” Aware’s biometric offerings are designed to
be highly flexible and configurable so they can both be
adapted to changing user needs and integrate easily
We bring biometric
solutions to life so
you can own your
identity.
‘‘ ‘‘
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29. into a customer’s workflow, even as technologies
advance.
Aware’s integration-ready biometric solutions can
effectively replace an existing password-based
authentication workflow with minimal effort compared
to alternatives and reduce the time to market
significantly. Aware can do this because it doesn’t focus
solely on technology. Instead, it distinguishes itself by
sitting at the convergence of identity, biometrics,
artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, adapting to
changing market needs and emerging challenges more
easily than other providers.
A Good Will for the Community
Because many of Aware’s employees are socially
conscious or have strong ties to their local
communities, Aware is proud to offer paid Volunteer
Time Off (VTO) to allow them to volunteer for the
organizations they feel passionately about. Aware also
provides its employees with additional volunteer
opportunities, typically around STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math). Aware routinely
encourages employees to support virtual learning
opportunities through organizations such as BoSTEM
(a Boston-focused charity) so that students who are
struggling with these subjects don’t fall behind.
Lastly, Aware is proud to have a strong intern program.
Aware routinely and consistently gives aspiring
individuals the opportunity to gain hands-on
experience in the industry, providing invaluable work
experience for the interns and unique viewpoints on
the company and its products for the organization.
Envisioning a Secure Future
As Bob notes, biometrics have evolved a lot in recent
years, growing greatly in prevalence. He has witnessed
biometric applications taking hold in both the
government and commercial space, either to provide
safeguards around personal identity to ensure privacy
and security, or to enable commercial transactions in a
much more secure and convenient way than traditional
password-based authentication methods.
With these trends in mind, Aware believes that over the
next 5-10 years, consumers will finally be able to take
back control of their identities and how they are used in
today’s digital world. Instead of conforming to the many
outdated authentication methods currently imposed by
the companies, such as passwords and security
questions, people will instead take control of how their
personal information is used and take advantage of the
passwordless nature of biometrics to do so.
With a long track record of success in the industry and
modern mobile authentication solutions already
available, Aware expects to be at the forefront of this
trend and play a vital role in ensuring people can
manage their identities in a secure, convenient,
passwordless future.
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30. Password
Shaping the Futur
M
any people become overwhelmed with the
many passwords to remember for accounts
used in their professional and personal lives.
There are vast possibilities of data breaches in the ever-
increasing digital world, and unauthorized users can
hack passwords, affecting businesses, leading to the
loss of customers. There is always an increasing danger
to companies with weaker login credentials. Creating
strong passwords and remembering all the passwords
for all digital accounts leads to many people choosing
repetitive passwords for multiple accounts, increasing
the possibility of hacking the passwords by
cybercriminals.
Due to all the complexities associated with password-
based authentication methods, we can understand that
passwords-based authentication is relatively less
relevant for digital access management in the
increasingly digital world. With increasing remote work
environments due to the pandemic and more
workloads being conducted or managed on the cloud
platform, people or businesses' digital identities are at
risk. Availing digital services or giving digital services to
customers requires robust authentication methods
that are not hackable and secure from cybercriminals.
Passwords are simply becoming inefficient to enhance
digital access management more efficiently.
The need for secure authentication solutions is
incredibly high more than ever. Authentication
solutions for protecting digital identities should be
highly safe, secure. Those authentication solutions
should be capable of providing privacy and data
protection. Passwordless authentication solutions
reduce most of the complexities of password-based
authentication solutions and offer safer and secure
solutions for protecting digital identities. These
solutions are scalable, convenient, managed, and are
easy to use. Passwordless authentication solutions are
good at increasing security and improving the user
experience. Safety and good user experience are
essential for large-scale applications, and passwordless
authentication solutions meet both the needs and are
suitable forms of authentication solutions.
Authentication solutions like biometrics, face
recognition, iris recognition, OTP verification, and
magic link are some of the key passwordless
authentication methods that decrease unauthorized
access to our most valuable data. Authentication
solutions should be good at ensuring security, privacy,
sustainability, inclusiveness, scalability, and user
experience. Passwordless authentication solutions are
capable of meeting these needs. The future of
authentication is good with passwordless
authentication solutions. Passwordless authentication
solutions are affordable solutions, and these solutions
are good at increasing the revenue of the businesses by
protecting the data and decreasing the complexity. The
solutions provide an improved experience for users as
well as customers. The more safety and security of the
data with fewer data breaches are possible with
passwordless authentication solutions.
Evolving and enhanced authentication solutions are the
most critical enabler for digital businesses.
Transitioning to passwordless authentication solutions
will be the more significant change in the future.
Authentication with facial or iris biometric technology
is becoming more visible in many places due to being
the most convincing form of authentication.
Passwordless authentication solutions are shaping the
future of authentication as they minimize or completely
reduce the need to remember any complex passwords,
eliminate all the confusion or overwhelmingness, and
enhance the safety and security of the businesses'
critical information from unauthorized access.
Password-based solutions are costly, give poor
performance, and their complexity is huge.
Passwordless authentication solutions remove all the
drawbacks of password-based solutions and provide
users greater security and ease of operability. The
business benefits of passwordless authentication
solutions are huge. Modern digital transformation is
possible with passwordless authentication solutions for
the users. Digital transformation will drive this shift
towards passwordless authentication solutions even
more in the future with more enhanced and evolved
features through this method. Streamlining and
consolidating workflows are very nicely possible with
passwordless solutions. The future of authentication
looks secure with passwordless authentication
solutions.
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31. dless-
re of Authentication
Secured Access
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34. Lambert Sonna Ph.D
CEO
Global ID SA
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35. Global ID SA
Using the Keys in Your Hands
T
oday, electronic identity has become a growing
concern for public and private organizations as
well as consumers. They all are skeptical about
authentication processes carried via information such
as passwords or PINs.
Though biometric authentication addresses these
concerns by being a novel solution that authenticates
by a unique physical feature, effectively like a unique
key we each possess, it raises the question of the
unwilling capture of such a key. It should use a physical
feature that is not continuously dispersed and
replicated, such as fingerprints, DNA, and faces. And
consumers must be able to exercise control over when
their biometrics are captured.
To address these legitimate needs, Global ID provides
authentication technology based on invisible keys that
can only be used explicitly.
We at CIO Look got into conversation with Lambert
Sonna Ph.D., the CEO of Global ID, to know more about
the company and how it is safeguarding the identity and
privacy of organizations as well as consumers.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Give us a brief overview of Global ID, its mission, and
the key aspects of its strong foothold in the Security
industry.
We help answer a very simple question: are you the
person we know? We do this by providing truly private
biometric authentication. By private, we mean based on
explicit consent, to the contrary of public biometry that
anyone can capture without asking for permission, such
as voice, face, fingerprints, iris, and DNA. We use
multi-view finger vein biometry to achieve very high
singularity, and the process is patented. Also, we
eliminate the replication of one’s biometry across
applications, making us compliant with severe laws
such as the EU’s GDPR, and here too, we use a patented
process. You get it, and we cherish privacy, so we
created a compliant solution to help private, public, and
non-governmental organizations achieve certain
identification of the people they interact with, be they
citizens, customers, patients, employees, members, and
so on.
Describe your top-notch products and solutions that
address the need of your customers.
Business leaders really care about their processes and
how they can be made better. Our technologies serve
their applications and processes, not vice versa.
So wherever and whenever an organization interacts
with an individual, we help them be sure who that
person is and so avoid risks, losses, fines, and costs,
especially reputation costs. Mistakes and fraud are
extremely damaging.
Sensitivity to risk does vary among organizations and is
usually related to the perceived importance of the
transaction – and here’s the catch – important to
whom? The organizations that talk to us worry about
the importance to the individuals they serve, customers
if you prefer. Security does also sell to the individuals
being served, especially if it’s simple to use, and
consenting to present one’s finger is as easy as it gets.
For flexibility, we scale from WAN-based
authentication all the way to standalone, portable,
bearer authentication. We can also enroll or register
individuals offline in a remote location and synch
records when back online.
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36. What makes Global ID a preferred choice among your
clientele over other competitors?
By far, the most positive emotional response we get is
about respect for privacy. People are clearly fed up with
abuse, they want to regain control, so there is welcome
acceptance of our technology.
The next positive response is about the business value
of true identification, with consent, via very advanced
technology. We have a true digital replacement for our
beloved pen and paper signatures without the risks and
costs of signature scanning. Just think of the workflow
savings!
The “cherry on the cake” comes from simplicity, by
design. For individuals served, simplicity means no
more intrusive personal questions, stuff to remember,
and objects to lose or have stolen. For organizations,
simplicity means a flexible architecture with APIs to
add high-unicity authentication to whatever
applications or processes they have.
Describe the values that drive your organization.
Privacy and simplicity I already mentioned. I can add
flexibility in design and attitude, which open doors to
OEM integrations and fresh new ideas. Then focus,
because authentication is all we do, we are not a giant
multinational with mixed priorities, and we do not have
the pretense of doing work that value-added
integrators and application creators do very well.
Finally, our team is diverse, and we want to keep it that
way.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
We are lucky to be very close to the research
community, even more so within our home base,
Switzerland. As we offer a security solution essentially,
constantly improving our intellectual property is
critical to best serve our customers, we need to be
particularly active and responsive to new threats.
Beyond research, when it comes to industrialization, we
rely on a strong engineering community within
Switzerland, well-networked with nearby countries for
flexibility.
What, according to you, could be the next big change
in the data protection industry? How is your company
preparing to be a part of that change?
We can already see the growth in authentication needs
across sectors, both in person and online. This will
continue and accelerate to the point where, if we
continue with the complicated, artificial tools that are
proliferating, doing anything that has a digital element
will become a painful experience. Stuff to remember, to
“With Global ID
technology, consumers
and citizen no longer
need to disclose
non-pertinent personal
data to authenticate
themselves. Just one
finger will do, and only
with their consent.”
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37. carry around, to lose or forget, we cannot go on like
this. So, pushback from the people they serve will force
organizations to find much more user-friendly, simpler,
faster methods. We clearly, strongly believe that easy,
private biometry is the best way out of the labyrinth.
In what ways have you or your company contributed
to the community?
As a start-up, although we have limited financial
resources, we are very attentive to requests by NGOs
that support humanitarian missions, an example of
directly applying our authentication solution to
practical applications catering to the well-being of
communities in all countries. This is highly appreciated.
What are your future aspirations? Where do you see
Global ID in the next five years?
The fast growth of demand for our technologies, due in
large part to the increasing need for security via
certainty of authentication and to the simplicity we
offer, we will see ourselves very well established in the
medical sector, where the need for certainty is critical
because of safety and fraud prevention. We also expect
a strong pull from other sectors requiring certainties,
such as financial operators and public services. Finally,
the use of private and reliable vein biometry “keys” to
sign and authenticate documents will likely surprise us
all in applicability across businesses.
Provide a few customer/client testimonials that
rightly exhibit your company’s expertise in the
market.
Well, the vast majority so far is from the medical world,
where certainty of identity and traceability are critical.
This sector is heavily scrutinized by authorities, by
insurers, and by each one of us as eventual patients.
They really like the certainty, of course, but they also
really like the scalability, the ease of integration, and
how easily their customers accept the use of private
biometry. The benefit extends up and down the value
chain, from the insurer, private or public, to
professionals, to institutions, to pharmacies,
and so on.
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38. Richard Kane
CEO
Panini
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39. A Respected Player in the Financial Technology Space
oday, many financial institutions are striving to
Tleverage technology in order to reduce operating
costs, build infrastructure to reduce fraud and
risk, and plan for the next generation of banking.
Panini is responding to these needs with effective
technological solutions and a suite of value-driving
services.
Panini's mission is to improve customer efficiency and
fraud prevention via trusted and innovative
technologies for check truncation and secure identity.
With a successful history of enabling clients to
capitalize on shifts in the payment processing market,
Panini has become a highly respected player in banking
technology. The company has been in business for over
75 years since its foundation in Torino, Italy in 1945,
but its global expansion took a decisive turn in 1995
with the foundation of Panini North America in Dayton,
Ohio. The U.S. is currently Panini's largest market, and
the company's products and services are utilized in
over forty countries across six continents.
Panini's scalable check imaging systems address the
complete range of distributed capture opportunities,
resulting in the world's largest deployed base of
scanners. Its expanding portfolio of secure identity
technologies includes reliable, user-friendly options for
identity verification and authentication.
We at CIO Look caught up with Richard Kane, the CEO
of Panini, to know more about the company and how its
technology can make a significant difference for its
customers.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Describe your top-notch offerings that address the
need of your customers.
Panini's core offering is related to check scanning –
allowing financial institutions to truncate paper checks
– i.e. convert them into digital data as early as possible
in the interbank process, enabling important
efficiencies and savings to our customers. The latest
frontier in this application is the emergence of
"intelligent" scanners, with Panini leading the way.
These devices are capable of autonomous processing,
are easier to install and support than traditional
peripherals, and allow a wider range of applications.
Moreover, we are now stepping into the market of
identity verification and authentication solutions with a
brand new and evolving portfolio meant to increase the
security of our client base while keeping their individual
and business customers at ease.
How is Panini improving customer efficiency and
fraud prevention?
Over the past decade, we have done important work on
our core technologies to reduce check fraud, such as
incorporating ultraviolet and infrared light to help spot
counterfeit or forged checks, and micro-perforation
detection via ultrasounds, which is a specific advantage
in Italy.
Today, we are venturing into the prevention of other
types of fraud, such as identity theft and impersonation,
with our new secure identity offering that leverages
biometrics-based authentication. Biometrics, one could
almost say by definition, stands for security coupled
with convenience. An innovative, cost-competitive and
low-friction application built on biometrics is what
many financial institutions are either already looking
for, or perhaps ready for without even realizing it. We
believe most customers will embrace it enthusiastically,
if it's proposed and justified to them in a meaningful
way.
As a well-known organization, what innovative
technologies are you implementing to elevate your
services to be more productive?
We believe intelligent devices are the future – devices
that you can access with simplicity from a variety of
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40. hosts, with multiple interfaces, and capable of their
own choices. It's impressive for me, as a newcomer, to
acknowledge that while the paper check has not
substantially changed for decades, we haven't given up
innovating on the related technology: today, we are
implementing a new fleet management system that
leverages our last generation scanners as a means to
simplify maintenance, freeing up our customers'
technical staff for higher value tasks and increasing
their overall productivity.
And while we proudly acknowledge that the application
of this new architecture is determining the undeniable
success of our latest scanners, we are extending this
philosophy to our secure identity products: in the near
future, bank customers will be able to authenticate
offline, using their biometrics and an encrypted
credential they own and control, with no need for the
institution to worry about storing and protecting
sensitive biometric data. This truly combines security
and convenience in an unprecedented way and we're
sure the market will understand this outstanding value
proposition.
Describe the values that drive your organization.
I've been in Panini for ten months, and I must say I have
never encountered such a level of perseverance as I can
find in our employees. It all starts from customer-
centricity: we strive to understand our customers' pain
points and to solve them with our ingenuity – though
never forgetting that excessive customization is
dangerous, so we keep our eyes and ears open on
general market requirements.
Then comes empowerment: once we know where our
goal is set, Panini people will act with an
entrepreneurial mindset and relentless determination,
and never give up until we get there. This attitude has
truly impressed me.
In what ways have you or your company contributed
to the community?
Our employee base is engaged, and willing to give back
to our communities. Panini made a substantial donation
to a few Italian and American healthcare institutions
fighting COVID-19 in early 2020, but it's giving our
personal time which really fills us with pride. Our North
American subsidiary has recently engaged with the
Dayton Food Bank and Hannah's treasure chest, a non-
profit supporting the lives of children in need.
In Italy, during these challenging times when working
with people has been subjected to restrictions, we have
carried out initiatives oriented towards the
environment, such as cleaning hiking trails. I would also
highlight that our core products, which transform paper
documents into bits and bytes, have an intrinsic positive
impact on the environment – because moving payments
data pollutes significantly less than moving paper.
What are your future aspirations? Where do you see
Panini in the next five years?
Panini will continue to evolve, both with our technology
and with our people, as we further our expansion
beyond the financial market. The business world is
becoming increasingly more complex and riskier than
ever before.
Identifying your interlocutor in a secure way, while not
making them consistently jump through hoops to
ensure that the proper confidence levels are being met,
is becoming a widespread requirement not only for
banks but across many industries: the public sector,
healthcare, travel, and entertainment – and I could go
on.
We believe that we have something interesting to say in
this domain, thanks to our research & development
capabilities coupled with our ability to listen to our
customers. So while we will still be involved in the
world of payments, prepare to hear more about our
expanding identity-related offering!
“Our ambition is to
offer our customers
the innovation
necessary to improve
their operational
processes while
making the new
technologies more
achievable.”
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