Articles
Aug 01, 2018
Meet our anonymous age estimation technology
Developing technologies that challenge the status quo is what we do best here at Yoti. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for good, our new age estimation technology is set to shake up the way people prove their age online and in person. We’re proud of all of the work that’s gone into making it easy to use, accurate and fair for everyone, no matter your age or ethnicity, so we’ve released a white paper for people that want to know more. Making it faster and safer to prove your age Our facial age estimation is a secure age-checking service that accurately estimates a person’s age by looking at their face. Until now, people have had to show ID documents to prove their age, a process that’s outdated and easily spoofed with high quality fake IDs available online for much less than the official documents that they replicate. Others can’t afford an ID document, which prevents them from accessing certain goods and services, such as obtaining medicine or placing their vote. Our facial recognition applications are designed to make life easier for everyone. We believe it is crucial to have a transparent approach when launching new technology that uses facial recognition. With that in mind, we’ve signed the Safe Face Pledge, which encourages companies using AI to ensure that facial recognition technology is not misused – and released a new white paper that explains how we use AI for good with our facial age estimation. Key takeouts from the report: Yoti’s facial age estimation ‘always forgets a face’ Our age estimation technology has been designed with data privacy and security at its core. It does not require individuals to register in advance, nor to provide any documentary evidence of their identity. It neither retains any information about individuals nor any images of them. It simply estimates their age. The algorithm can accurately estimate the age of millions of people in a private and secure way. It is a scalable solution which is quicker and more accurate than manual ID checks, and can be used in the provision of any age-restricted goods and services, both online and in person. A robust solution built for the real world In the last 30 days our facial age estimation has worked with a live streaming chat room service to check the age of over five million individuals to flag any accounts where the person appears to have stated a significantly false age; this task is important for safeguarding young people and would be prohibitively expensive to do manually each day. Our age estimation tech will go live in supermarkets in Q1 2019 to let people purchase an age-restricted good at self-checkout. Shortly after, our facial age estimation will be available as an option to verify the ages of people visiting UK adult content sites, which will be mandatory as a result of the Digital Economy Act. As regulators review the accuracy of this innovative approach, opportunities will open up globally for the sale and/or collection of age-restricted goods through automated vending and dispensing machines. For the first time technology will be able to estimate someone’s age with a high degree of accuracy, and give people the chance to verify their age in a private and secure way. You can read the white paper here.
Articles
Jan 16, 2018
Introducing Yoti Password Manager
It’s safe to say that most of us are fed up with usernames and passwords. We know we should use stronger, unique passwords. It’s just that it’s not that easy to remember 14 random numbers and letters, is it. It’s hard enough to remember the variants you have of the one password you use for most of your accounts and websites, let alone a unique password for each one. The problem with passwords Good job then, that passwords are as rubbish as we are at remembering them. Passwords just aren’t adequate for protecting our online accounts anymore. The number of recent data breaches is testament to that. In 2017, 122 data records were stolen every single second (Breach Level Index, 2017). It’s clear that what the world needs is a modern solution that makes life easier for the average person, but harder for fraudsters. Well, look no further. Introducing: Yoti’s password manager—where you are your password. Managing your passwords with Yoti When you use Yoti to safely store and easily access your logins for your favourite sites, you are in full control of your data. There’s no master password to remember; using your biometrics to access and make use of an encrypted store of all your usernames and passwords makes signing in faster, safer and simpler. It even helps you generate unique, strong passwords for even better protection. Here’s how it works: Download the free Yoti app for Android or iOS, if you don’t already have it. Download the password manager extension to your computer for Chrome or Firefox. Once installed, you’ll see an icon in the top right hand corner of your browser. Click this icon to display a Yoti QR code. Scan the code with the Yoti app on your phone and that’s it—you’re ready to go. Simply log in to websites on your computer as normal and Yoti will offer to store your details and fill them in for you every time you visit. There’s no need to remember passwords anymore—Yoti does it for you. When you step away from your computer, simply lock the Yoti extension with a click (or the extension will automatically lock after 15 minutes of inactivity), so that someone using your laptop or computer can’t see your passwords. If someone else attempts to unlock the extension, you’ll receive a notification on your phone. Tapping ‘Cancel’ on the notification will deny access, keeping the browser extension locked. To unlock the extension again just click the ‘Unlock’ button in the browser extension. You’ll then receive a push notification on your phone to unlock your passwords. When you’re done browsing, remember to sign out of the extension and all your logins will remain secured and encrypted. You can sign in to the extension again at any time by scanning the code using your Yoti app. Keeping your details safe Security is absolutely key with everything we do at Yoti—our password manager is no exception. We take security seriously and always put the safety of your personal data first. With our password manager, we’ve developed a password management tool with Yoti security embedded throughout. Multiple users with different logins on the same PC or Mac With our password manager, you simply need to install the browser extension and then anyone who uses it can access their secure logins with their own Yoti. This means you can have a family laptop with the Yoti extension installed but anybody with Yoti can access their own logins. This means Yoti could also be used on public or shared devices in the workspace, whilst keeping all of your personal passwords and accounts secure. No master password Unlike other password managers, ours doesn’t rely on a master password to secure all of your passwords. As we said, passwords are no longer adequate for protecting our information. Our password manager is connected to your Yoti account so the only way to access and use your passwords is by using the Yoti app on your phone. Locked passwords Once you have finished on the laptop or computer you were using, you can lock the password manager. So, if someone then uses the same computer after you, they won’t have access to any of your passwords. Once you sign out of the password manager, no data is left on the laptop or computer you were using. You can walk away safe in the knowledge that there is nothing for anyone to find. The only way to unlock and use your login details is with your Yoti account. Linked to your Yoti account All details are encrypted, and the only way to decrypt them is with your Yoti. If someone else got hold of your phone, firstly they would have to gain access to the phone (either by guessing your phone’s PIN or possessing your fingerprint). They would then need to log in to your Yoti app—with a limited number of attempts at the PIN before they’re locked out. This is the first version of our password manager. It’s available on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox but we’re working on bringing it to other browsers soon. If you’d like to be notified when it’s available for other browsers, leave your email here and we’ll let you know. And the best news? It’s free! If you have any questions about our password manager, please get in touch.