Method and apparatus for user verification

An authentication system to evaluate a user's identity comprising:

• a data collection device having a processor and memory storing non-transitory machine executable code which is executable by the processor, the machine executable code of the data collection device configured to:
• present user related questions to the user;
• receive answers to the user related questions, the answers entered by the user into the data collection device;
• process the answers to create secured answer data, wherein the secured answer data is encrypted;
• transmit the secured answer data to a remote server;
• responsive to instructions from the remote server, collect and transmit collected biometric data from the user, wherein the collected biometric data is derived from one or more facial images of the user;
• the remote server having a processor and memory storing non-transitory machine executable code which is executable by the processor, the machine executable code configured to:
• receive the secured answer data from the data collection device;
• process the secured answer to determine if the received secured answer data matches stored secured answer data wherein the stored secured answer data is encrypted when stored;
• responsive to the received secured answer data not matching the stored secured answer data, denying access to stored biometric data for the user;
• responsive to the received secured answer data matching the stored secured answer data:
• initiate an authentication session by communicating with the data collection device to collect and transmit collected authentication data;
• receive collected authentication data from the data collection device;
• and
• compare the collected authentication data received from the data collection device to stored user authentication data stored on the remote server to determine if a match occurs, such that the comparing provides an indicator of the identity of the user, wherein the stored authentication data is derived from one or more previously captured facial images of the user.

An authentication system for use by a business to evaluate identity of a user, the authentication system comprising:

• a data collection device having a screen and a user interface, the data collection device configured to:
• receive answers from the user to questions presented to the user;
• process the answers to create secure answer data;
• transmit the secure answer data to a verification server, wherein the secure answer data is encrypted prior to transmission,
• responsive to instructions from a verification server either:
• capture one or more images of a face of the user and transmit the one or more images of the face of the user or biometric data derived from the one or more images of the face of the user to the authentication server for liveness analysis at the authentication server;
• or
• capture one or more images of a face of the user, processing the one or more images to evaluate liveness of the user in the one or more images,
• transmitting a liveness evaluation outcome to the verification server;
• a verification server configured to:
• receive the secure answer data from the data collection device;
• compare the secure answer data or processed secure answer data to stored answer data;
• responsive to the comparing determining that the secure answer data or processed secure answer data does not match the stored answer data, terminating the identity evaluation;
• responsive to the comparing determining the secure answer data or processed secure answer data matches the stored answer data, initiating an authentication session by providing instructions to the data collection device to capture the one or more image for liveness evaluation by the verification server or to provide the liveness evaluation generated by the data collection device to the verification server;
• based on an outcome of the liveness evaluation, continuing a business transaction at the business or terminating the business transaction at the business.

A method for evaluating identity of a customer by a business comprising:

• initiating an identity verification session for the customer;
• at the business, presenting questions to the customer, the questions having stored answers which are stored at a remote location;
• at the business, receiving customer answers to the questions;
• transmitting the customer answers in encrypted form or a processed version of the customer answers in encrypted form to an authentication system;
• receiving the customer answers or the processed version of the customer answers at the authentication system;
• comparing the customer answers or the processed version of the customer answers to stored customer answers, stored in encrypted form, or a stored processed version of the customer answers, stored in encrypted form, to determine if a match occurs;
• if a match does not occur, providing notice to the business of a failure to match and ending the identity evaluation processes;
• if a match does occur, initiating verification process by obtaining one or more images of the customer's face with a camera;
• processing one or more of the images of the customer's face to generate captured facial image data;
• transmitting the captured facial image data to the verification system;
• processing the captured facial image data to determine three-dimensionality and liveness of the customer generating the captured facial image data;
• comparing the captured facial image data to stored facial image data to confirm the stored facial image data matches the captured facial image data, the stored facial image data based on previously captured images of the customer's face;
• and
• performing liveness evaluation on the one or more images of the customer's face to evaluate whether the images captured a live person.