Lithuanians who developed a tool to manage migrant flows win the Baltic Innovation Prize

Technology developers note that the accelerated digitalization brought about by the Pandemic has highlighted cybersecurity gaps, making fintech security solutions one of the most receptive areas for innovation. “Idenfy”, a startup based in Kaunas Science and Technology Park that develops digital tools for identity authentication, has scaled in foreign markets and found new customers in Europe, the US, Asia, and Australia.

In early November, the team was awarded the Baltic Innovation Prize by the Baltic Assembly together with the Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centers (BASTIC). At the end of the month, the Lithuanians will test an app for border security.

“The Lithuanian solution has been recognized by the Baltic innovation community not only because of the current demand for such cybersecurity solutions. The team is also distinguished by its consistent growth, scaling and its active role in educating the society,” says Tomas Černevičius, a member of the BASTIC Board and Head of Operations at Kaunas Science and Technology Park.

The “Idenfy” team have developed an application that identifies the user logging into the remote services website. During the process, biometric data is linked to an identity document by artificial intelligence.

“The last few years have been challenging for both business and the public sector. The so-called ‘deep fake’ technology, which relies on artificial intelligence solutions to create highly realistic photos and videos of individuals, has become very popular with fraudsters. Compared to 2019, the frequency of using ‘deep fake’ to deceive the biometric identification system has increased by 12 times,” said Domantas Čiuldė, head of the team based in Kaunas Science and Technology Park.

“This year is exceptional because we have improved our facial and ID recognition systems and updated the design of our service, creating a better user experience. This has led to an increase in the number of successful identifications by almost a 10%,” says D. Čiuldė.

Kaunas based startup has also launched a “proxy detection” service to detect the use of VPNs or other anonymous IP addresses. The team stresses that this is a very relevant tool, as 97% of cyber fraudsters use these addresses to hide their real IP address. The team is also developing digital tools to fight money laundering and illegal payments. The “Pažink savo verslą” platform helps to authenticate companies.

“We are constantly looking for areas where we can do more. Last year, we were named Fintech Startup of the Year. We offered the UK government innovations that can help fight the pandemic – tracking citizens in mandatory isolation and immunity passport solutions”, says the startup’s CEO, “We presented the Lithuanian government with a solution to help control the flow of immigrants at the border – with our facial recognition technology, border guards will be able to link a person’s face to certain databases to identify them”.