Categories: Cloud

Why Universities Are Starting to Treat Identity as Part of Student Experience 

Posted by Aneta Ciurkot on Posted in Biometrics, Cloud, Digital ID, Education

Higher education has spent years modernizing learning platforms, student portals, mobile apps, and digital services. But one part of the student experience still creates more manual work than most institutions realize: proving a student is who they say they are. 

Not in a theoretical cybersecurity sense. In everyday operational moments. 

  • A student uploads enrollment documents. 
  • A staff member manually reviews them. 
  • A student joins an online exam. 
  • An instructor wonders whether the person behind the camera is actually the enrolled student. 

These moments used to sit at the edge of campus operations. Increasingly, they are becoming central to how institutions think about student experience, online learning, and administrative efficiency. 

Learn more about NEC Higher Education Solutions >

The Shift Is Operational

Most universities already have identity systems. The issue is that many verification workflows still depend on manual review, disconnected systems, or one-time checks that do not translate well into hybrid and online environments. What makes this challenging is not only scale bur it is consistency. 

During peak enrollment periods, staff may process thousands of uploaded documents in a short timeframe. Different departments may follow different verification practices. Students may enter through in-person, hybrid, continuing education, or fully remote pathways. 

At the same time, institutions are expected to provide experiences that feel faster and more connected than traditional administrative workflows were designed to support. 

That is why many schools are beginning to look at identity verification less as a security tool and more as operational infrastructure supporting the broader student journey. 

Online Learning Changed Expectations Around ID Trust 

The rapid expansion of online and hybrid learning changed how universities think about presence. In a physical classroom, identity was usually assumed. In online environments, institutions need stronger ways to confirm that the student enrolling, attending, or completing an assessment is the same person tied to the academic record.  

What is changing now is that universities are trying to solve this problem without creating overly invasive experiences for students or adding significant administrative overhead for faculty. 

Institutions are increasingly looking for approaches that: 

  • support identity validation at important moments 
  • reduce manual review requirements 
  • integrate into existing learning and enrollment systems 
  • respect privacy and consent expectations 
  • avoid creating additional complexity for students 

Why Student Affairs Teams Are Part of the Conversation 

Identity verification used to sit mostly within IT or security discussions. That is changing as more of the student experience becomes digital. Student Affairs teams are now often involved because onboarding, access, online services, and student support all depend on reliable identity workflows behind the scenes. And identity increasingly affects operational experience across departments, not just technical systems. 

The Institutions Making Progress Are Not Replacing Everything 

One misconception is that modernizing identity requires replacing core campus systems. 

In practice, many institutions are taking a more incremental approach: 

  • adding document verification into onboarding workflows 
  • introducing digital credentials for specific student services 
  • adding verification checkpoints for online testing 
  • integrating identity validation into existing LMS or SIS environments 
  • extending mobile credentials into hybrid learning experiences 

The institutions moving fastest are often the ones treating identity as a layer that connects systems together rather than another standalone platform. 

The Bigger Question Universities Are Starting to Ask 

The question is becoming less about whether identity verification is necessary. The real question is how universities can create identity workflows that support trust, privacy, operational efficiency, and student experience at the same time. 

That conversation is still evolving across higher education, but it is becoming increasingly clear that identity is no longer only an IT issue or a card-office issue. It is becoming part of how institutions deliver modern education itself. 

Learn more about NEC’s higher education approach here: NEC Higher Education Solutions 

Read more:

Higher Ed’s Next Infrastructure Challenge Is Hiding in Plain Sight 

Posted by Aneta Ciurkot on Posted in Biometrics, Cloud, Digital ID, Education Tagged , ,

A university is one of the few places where a person’s identity changes meaning throughout the day. A student may be an applicant, resident, learner, lab user, dining customer, event attendee, test taker, employee, graduate, and alum. An employee may be faculty, staff, researcher, contractor, clinician, coach, visitor, or student worker. Each role carries different permissions, services, spaces, and responsibilities. 

Yet on many campuses, much of that complexity still depends on a physical ID card, disconnected systems, and staff manually solving problems when something breaks. The campus ID card is visible. The larger issue is that identity across campus is often fragmented. 

NEC’s higher education approach frames identity across the full student journey: admission, onboarding, assessment, services, campus access, learning, and alumni engagement. That journey shows why identity matters far beyond a card office transaction.  

Learn more about NEC solutions for higher education here >

The Old Campus ID Was Asked To Do Too Much 

For years, the campus card served as a practical all-purpose credential. It opened doors, verified student status, supported dining, enabled library access, handled printing, helped with events, supported payments, and granted access to residence halls and recreation centers. For employees, it helped manage entry to buildings, offices, classrooms, and restricted areas. 

That model worked when campus services were simpler. Today, the expectations are different. Students expect services to be mobile, immediate, and connected. Employees expect access to be ready when their role begins. Administrators need cleaner records. Security teams need better visibility. Faculty need less time spent on manual attendance and identity checks. IT teams need systems that can work together without creating yet another silo. 

Students Experience The Gaps First 

Students usually notice identity problems at the worst possible moments. They arrive for move-in and cannot enter a residence hall. They try to use a meal plan that has not activated. They need library access that has not synced. They attend a required class where attendance is still being captured manually. They enter a lab, clinic, testing environment, or event where someone has to verify them through a separate process. 

To the institution, these may look like isolated service issues. To the student, they feel like one message: the university is not ready for me yet. 

A campus can invest in recruitment, facilities, academic programs, and student success, but if basic access and identity experiences feel disjointed, students notice. The connected campus begins by making those everyday moments work better. 

The Connected Campus Starts With Trusted Digital Identity 

Digital student IDs are gaining momentum because they match how students already live. Students use phones for payments, tickets, travel, communication, and daily services. A university credential in a mobile wallet feels like a natural next step.  

A connected campus uses identity as a shared foundation across the student and employee journey. That foundation helps answer a few simple but important questions:  

  1. Who is this person?  
  1. What is their current relationship to the institution?  
  1. What are they allowed to access?  
  1. What services are they eligible to use?  
  1. What should change when their status changes? 

Those questions appear everywhere: admissions, onboarding, access control, learning systems, attendance, exams, dining, payments, libraries, housing, events, and alumni services. When each system answers them separately, campus life becomes harder to manage. When identity is connected, the experience becomes simpler for everyone. 

  • For students, that can mean fewer lines, fewer repeated identity checks, faster access to services, and a campus experience that feels organized.
  • For employees, it can mean faster onboarding, cleaner role-based access, and fewer delays when responsibilities change.
  • For faculty, it can mean less time spent on manual attendance or verification tasks.
  • For administrators, it can mean fewer exceptions, cleaner records, and better reporting.
  • For IT and security teams, it can mean more consistent visibility across systems that historically operated separately. 

Technology Should Serve The Experience 

The technology behind a connected campus identity may include digital credentials, biometric verification, liveness detection, mobile wallet support, access control integrations, student information system integrations, learning platform integrations, and real-time authorization. The strongest identity strategies make the campus feel more human. They reduce avoidable administrative burden so staff can spend more time supporting people. 

The Campus Digital ID Is Becoming A Campus Platform 

The future of the university will depend on how well physical and digital experiences work together. Classrooms, residence halls, labs, dining, libraries, events, exams, health programs, workforce training, and alumni services all depend on identity in some form. 

That makes campus identity more than an administrative function. It is becoming the front door to the connected university. 

Explore how NEC helps higher education institutions modernize identity across admission, onboarding, campus access, attendance, assessment, services, and alumni engagement. 

Scaling Facial Identity Authentication Across the Venue Experience

Posted by Aneta Ciurkot on Posted in Biometrics, Cloud, Digital ID Tagged , , , ,

Venues and arenas are under growing pressure to deliver experiences that feel easy, intuitive, and secure, even as attendance grows and operations become more complex. Fans expect to move through spaces without unnecessary delays, repeated checks, or constant reliance on devices. For venue operators, the challenge is how to support that experience while maintaining confidence in who is accessing services and spaces.

Facial identity authentication is increasingly being explored as a way to address this challenge. When implemented responsibly, it allows identity verification to happen naturally in the background, reducing the need for fans to repeatedly present tickets, phones, or physical credentials. A single identity authentication capability can then be applied across multiple moments in the venue journey, wherever identity verification or authentication is required.

Identity Cloud Service (ICS) has been developed to support this approach, providing a secure and privacy-focused way to verify and authenticate individuals using facial biometrics in environments such as large venues and arenas.

Making Identity Authentication Easier for Fans

In large venues, identity is rarely the focus of the experience, but it is often a source of effort. Fans are accustomed to pulling out phones, opening apps, scanning codes, or presenting credentials at multiple points, even within a single visit.

Facial identity authentication changes that dynamic. Once a fan has chosen to enroll, identity confirmation can take place without requiring them to actively present anything at each interaction. The experience becomes simpler because identity is recognized rather than repeatedly requested.

ICS is designed to support this model by establishing identity authentication outcomes that can be applied across different use cases, where appropriate. Instead of asking fans to repeatedly demonstrate who they are, the system allows identity to be confirmed in a consistent and unobtrusive way, making interactions feel faster and more natural.

Entry Designed Around Flow, Not Devices

Entry is one of the most visible and time-sensitive moments in any venue. Large volumes of fans arrive within short time windows, and even small delays can quickly affect the overall experience.

ICS supports facial authentication for entry scenarios where venues choose to offer it. For enrolled fans, this means identity can be confirmed as they approach access points, without needing to pull out a phone, scan a code, or present a physical credential. Authentication is performed using biometric templates rather than stored facial images, and the original image is not required for subsequent verification. Used alongside existing ticketing and access control systems, this approach helps venues support smoother entry processes while maintaining appropriate levels of identity assurance and privacy control.

Payments Without Breaking the Experience

Once inside the venue, convenience becomes critical. Concessions and merchandise purchases are often made under time pressure, and the need to reach for a wallet or phone can slow things down.

Identity service does not process payments or store financial information. Instead, it can be used to authenticate the individual authorizing a transaction. In facial authentication scenarios, this allows a purchase to be confirmed without the fan needing to present a card or device at the point of sale, while payment credentials remain securely managed by existing payment providers. This approach allows identity to support faster transactions without increasing the venue’s exposure to sensitive financial data.

Insight That Respects Boundaries

Operational insight is essential for improving venue performance, from understanding arrival patterns to identifying peak demand across services. At the same time, venues must meet expectations around transparency and responsible data use.

Identity Cloud Service is designed to support insight derived from authentication events rather than continuous monitoring. Configurable retention periods and access controls allow venues to determine how identity-related data is used, how long it is retained, and for what purpose.

This enables venues to learn from patterns and trends without extending identity or compromising privacy.

Privacy and Ethics as a Foundation

The use of facial biometrics in public environments requires a strong focus on ethics and trust. Identity Cloud Service is designed with privacy-by-design principles, using template-based biometric technology, purpose limitation, and strict access controls.

Enrollment is voluntary, usage is governed, and deletion can be requested through the relying party. These principles reflect lessons learned from real-world deployments in sports and venue environments, where public acceptance depends on transparency, choice, and clear communication.

Read more about ethics and privacy in facial biometrics in this NEC Today article focused on the sports industry.
https://nectoday.com/ethics-privacy-in-facial-biometrics-lessons-from-the-sports-industry/

Applying Facial Identity Authentication Where It Adds Value

ICS has been applied in live arena environments, supporting facial identity authentication at scale while operating within defined privacy and regulatory frameworks. These deployments show how a single facial authentication capability can be extended across multiple use cases, rather than limited to a single point in the fan journey.

As venues continue to evolve, facial identity authentication is increasingly viewed as an operational capability that helps make experiences easier for fans while supporting efficiency and trust for operators. When implemented thoughtfully, it fades into the background, enabling smoother interactions without becoming the focus of attention.

Learn more about Identity Cloud Service for enterprises here: https://info.necam.com/identity-cloud-service-for-enterprises

The Price of Trust: How Cloud-Native Identity Services Secure Financial Futures

Posted by Aneta Ciurkot on Posted in Biometrics, Cloud, Digital ID, Finance Tagged , , ,

The Problem with Identity: When Trust Becomes a Liability 

The narrative of security and safety in the financial sector is often one of reaction rather than prevention. An unfortunate but common reality is that security becomes a top-tier priority only after a catastrophic event, such as a large-scale data breach or a wave of fraudulent losses. However, the analysis shows that by the time a crisis unfolds, the damage has already been done, and the costs are far more than just monetary. For individuals, such a failure can result in the loss of a life’s savings; for institutions, it can erode the very foundation of trust upon which the industry is built. 

The scope of this issue is immense and rapidly expanding. According to a 2024 report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), fraudulent activity led to a staggering $12.5 billion in losses, marking a significant $2.5 billion increase from the previous year’s figures. This data reveals that the threat landscape is not static but is accelerating at an alarming rate. It also underscores that the cost of inaction is not merely a hypothetical risk but a quantifiable and growing liability. 

The Digital Identity Minefield: Challenges of a Fragmented Ecosystem

The challenges facing financial services are rooted in the limitations of existing identity management architectures. Many institutions still rely on a fragmented, patchwork system of legacy applications and siloed databases. These systems often lack modern identity capabilities, leading to significant inefficiencies and vulnerabilities. The manual processes required to manage these disparate systems for compliance with regulations like GDPR, SOX, and PCI-DSS are error-prone and create “gaps in compliance”.

This fragmentation poses a particular challenge during periods of organizational change, such as mergers and acquisitions, where the unification of diverse identity repositories and access policies becomes a complex and disruptive undertaking. The reliance on a centralized identity model, while offering simplified management and audit capabilities, creates a single, high-value target for attackers. This architecture also enables a pervasive and dangerous problem known as “access creep,” where employees accumulate excessive access rights over time.  

The Spoofing and Deepfake Threat 

The industry has increasingly turned to biometrics—fingerprints, iris scans, and facial recognition—as a seemingly foolproof solution. Biometric data is inherently unique to each individual and, unlike passwords, cannot be easily duplicated or stolen in the traditional sense. However, as the technology has matured, a new and sophisticated class of threats has emerged, challenging the very notion of biometrics as an impregnable defense. 

The rapid advancements in generative AI have “flipped” the security paradigm on its head, rendering many legacy biometric systems vulnerable to sophisticated, AI-driven attacks. Deepfakes, once a staple of science fiction, are now a tangible cybersecurity threat that can be used to bypass facial recognition systems and lead to account takeovers and major financial losses. The financial implications of this new fraud vector are staggering: generative AI-enabled fraud losses in the U.S. are projected to grow more than threefold, from $12.3 billion in 2023 to $40 billion by 2027.

The technical weaknesses that enable these attacks are manifold. Spoofing, a method of fooling a biometric sensor with a fake artifact like a 2D photo or a 3D mask, remains a persistent challenge. Moreover, the open nature of certain mobile operating systems, often forces banks to rely on software-based biometric solutions that are easier for malicious actors to compromise with rooting tools and virtualization frameworks. These vulnerabilities demonstrate that not all biometric systems are created equal, and a high-quality, government-grade solution is a necessity, not a luxury. A 2025 survey of financial institutions found that a high percentage of respondents, 77%, considered deepfakes to be either a moderate or high threat to their application processes, underscoring the urgency of the problem. 

The Blueprint for a Secure Future: How Identity Cloud Services Solve the Crisis 

NEC Identity Cloud Service: A Foundational Shift to Cloud-Native Security 

The financial services industry requires a security paradigm that is built for the future, not patched onto the past. The NEC Identity Cloud Service (ICS) represents a foundational shift to a cloud-native security model. It is designed not as a separate product but as an embedded “identity layer” that can be rapidly deployed and scaled across an enterprise’s entire ecosystem. This architectural approach directly addresses the limitations of traditional, on-premise solutions. 

The cloud-native nature of ICS provides a significant advantage in terms of both speed and cost. On-premise identity solutions can take weeks to deploy, whereas ICS is available in a matter of hours. This rapid implementation is critical in an environment where speed to market and the ability to respond quickly to new threats are essential. Furthermore, by shifting the burden of hosting and support to NEC, the cloud model offers a considerably lower total cost of ownership compared to self-managed, on-premise deployments. This financial efficiency allows institutions to allocate resources to other strategic initiatives while ensuring a secure, scalable identity framework. 

The Liveness Advantage: Combating AI Fraud with Unmatched Accuracy 

The key to solving the biometrics paradox lies in moving beyond basic facial recognition to a solution with government-grade accuracy. The NEC Identity Cloud Service provides a direct answer to the threat of deepfakes and spoofing. NEC’s facial recognition technology has been consistently ranked as the world’s most accurate by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2009. The technology boasts an unparalleled accuracy rate of 99.2% and can verify faces even from poorly lit or obscured images. This level of precision significantly reduces the rates of false positives and false negatives, which are major pain points for lower-quality systems.

The system’s defense against deepfakes is rooted in its advanced “liveness detection.” This technology analyzes subtle biometric cues, such as eye blinks, head movements, texture, and the reflection of light on the face, to distinguish a live human from a fake representation or a synthetic image. This sophisticated approach directly counters the AI-based video and voice cloning that analysts agree pose a significant threat to modern biometric systems.

In addition to its anti-spoofing capabilities, the NEC solution also prioritizes data privacy through its proprietary biometric template technology. The system generates mathematical abstractions of facial data that are impossible to reverse-engineer or reconstruct to reveal a user’s identity. This design choice is critical as it addresses the privacy concerns surrounding biometric data and ensures that even if a template were to be compromised, the core identity of the user would remain secure. 

Bridging the Gaps with Seamless Integration 

One of the most profound benefits of the NEC Identity Cloud Service is its ability to unify a fragmented identity landscape. The platform utilizes open APIs to provide a “common, standardized interface” that can “learn the various message formats used by different banks” and organizations. This capability is a fundamental solution to the problem of identity silos, which often lead to duplication, inconsistent data, and repetitive verification processes.

By offering a single, verifiable identity credential, NEC’s solution allows for a consistent and secure identity to follow the user across multiple applications and services. This capability is particularly valuable for addressing complex access management challenges, such as integrating third-party vendors and unifying identity systems during mergers and acquisitions.

This unification also revolutionizes the user experience. By reducing the need for multiple accounts and redundant verification steps, the solution simplifies the customer journey, from onboarding to daily transactions. The system enables seamless, friction-free processes like eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer), allowing customers to open an account with a simple selfie and a copy of their ID, eliminating the need for in-person visits and cumbersome paperwork.

Key Recommendations for Financial Institutions 

To navigate the evolving industry threats and build a secure foundation for the future, financial institutions should consider the following strategic imperatives: 

  1. Adopt a Cloud-Native Identity Model: The future of identity management is in the cloud. Institutions should prioritize solutions that offer the speed, scalability, and cost efficiency of a cloud-native platform, allowing them to rapidly deploy and adapt to new business and security requirements. 
  1. Demand Government-Grade Biometrics: The data is clear that not all biometric solutions offer the same level of security. To effectively combat sophisticated threats like deepfakes and spoofing, institutions must invest in top-tier biometric technology with a proven track record of accuracy and robust anti-spoofing features. 
  1. Unify the Identity Ecosystem: The era of fragmented identity silos must end. A successful identity strategy requires a solution that can create a single, trustworthy identity layer, seamlessly integrating with both legacy systems and third-party applications to reduce friction and improve security across the entire enterprise. 
  1. Embrace Security as a Value Driver: Security is no longer a cost center to be minimized. By framing a robust identity solution as a strategic investment, institutions can realize a significant return on investment through fraud reduction, operational efficiency, and, most importantly, the cultivation of lasting customer trust and loyalty. 

Let’s map your identity roadmap > 

References

Bhattacharyya, S. (2025). Banks tighten ID checks as AI deepfakes get better. American Banker. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/banks-tighten-id-checks-as-ai-deepfakes-get-better

IBM. (2024). Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024: Financial Industry. https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/cost-of-a-data-breach-2024-financial-industry

John Marshall Bank. (2024). Fraud Facts and Statistics. https://www.johnmarshallbank.com/resources/security-center/fraud-facts-and-statistics/

NEC Identity Cloud Services for Healthcare 

Posted by Aneta Ciurkot on Posted in Biometrics, Cloud, Digital ID, Healthcare

Why Patient Identity Matters More Than Ever 
In healthcare, every interaction starts with identity. Whether at patient check-in, prescription dispensing, or staff access to controlled areas, accurate identification is critical for safety, efficiency, and trust. 

Yet many health systems still rely on outdated processes — plastic ID cards, manual data entry, shared logins — that are prone to errors and slow down care delivery. In an environment already strained by staff shortages and growing patient expectations for digital-first experiences, these inefficiencies are more costly than ever. 

The Risks of Outdated Systems 
Misidentification can lead to duplicate medical records, treatment delays, and in some cases, clinical errors. Each extra minute spent re-entering information or re-verifying identity takes focus away from patient care. And with heightened awareness of infection control, shared touchpoints like badge readers or keypads are under increasing scrutiny. 

Transforming Access with NEC Identity Cloud Service 
NEC Identity Cloud Services use top-ranked facial recognition to create a secure, contactless, and seamless identity layer that works across EHR systems, insurance platforms, and clinical workflows. Patients check in instantly without handling physical credentials. Staff authenticate quickly — even in high-security areas — without breaking from PPE protocols. 

Because ICS is cloud-native, it deploys rapidly and scales across facilities without adding infrastructure complexity. Compliance with healthcare regulations is built in, and fraud prevention is strengthened through precise biometric verification. 

The Outcome 
Faster patient registration, reduced patient and staff identity verification errors, improved staff efficiency, and an elevated patient experience.

Learn how NEC Identity Cloud Service can modernize your healthcare access and security. Book your consultation: https://info.necam.com/identity-cloud-service-for-enterprises