Leading credit-reporting agency Equifax
plans to authenticate online shoppers through quizzes based on their credit
reports and other nonfinancial information. The company says the process
will eliminate manual authentication methods, including the need for
customers to enter an authentication code that arrives by mail. One of
Atlanta-based Equifax's first customers for the service will be
CheckFree, also based in Atlanta, which has signed a
multi-year deal to verify the identities of its online bill payment
customers.
The Equifax authentication engine requests both financial and nonfinancial
information that is known only to the consumer via an enrollment form. The
information is encrypted and sent to Equifax, where it is combined with
consumer data from Equifax and other information sources to create a
multiple-choice questionnaire. Consumers must answer correctly to verify
their identities, the company says.
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