For years, “Know Your Customer” checks have become commonplace on the internet, often by sharing a copy of a government-issued ID and selfies to make sure it's really you, visiting websites and apps, or purchasing certain products.
The age verification law currently in effect in the US, UK, Australia and other countries creates an entire industry of ID checking companies that have granted access to the “adult” web.
However, when I uploaded my identity details and selfies to my company's servers, I was surprised and feared that this sensitive information could be monetized, lost or stolen in a data breach.
A new startup called Trusources aims to solve some of these privacy and security challenges by performing age verification and identity verification on personal devices without leaving their phones. The company will showcase new technology at the TechCrunch Surpate 2025, which will be held at the Moscon Center in San Francisco from October 27th to 29th.
Sanjay Krishnamurthy, founder and chief technology officer of Trusources, tells TechCrunch that Sanjay Krishnamurthy, who worked for WhatsApp, who worked for Core Encryption Engine, is the first to work on technology to prevent fraud.
His company developed a Deepfark detection app and a “know your customers” (or KYC) app. This can be used to check the user's activity in seconds.
Krishnamurthy says that when a user verifies his identity with Trusources, none of that information is uploaded to the server, like most age and ID checking companies. Instead, Trusources' technology relies on custom machine learning models burned into apps that detect patterns from existing datasets developed by the company to find Deepfakes and False Idention cards.
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Trusources' technology can be integrated with other apps and websites that need to comply with age verification laws. The technology can also be integrated into a company's single sign-on service to allow employees to access multiple work apps with a set of credentials.
The app can also create QR codes for use in the real world, such as when proof that a person's age enters a bar without giving them a physical copy of their identity documents.
Krishnamurthy said his technology helps companies subject to age verification and identity checks to comply with KYC rules while also protecting these companies from maintaining user privacy without the need to collect identity documents issued by people's government.
“A few countries require that all apps need to know your age. They don't want to get IDs from around the world, so they have big problems and there are all sorts of legal implications,” Krishnamursi tells TechCrunch.
Trusources is still in its early days, but stands out as one of the few startups working on identity checks and age verification, but does not undermine a person's privacy or security.
If you want to hear more about Trusources and dozens of other startups, pitches and listen to guest speakers in four different stages, join San Francisco Discrupt from October 27th to 29th.
Click here for more information on tickets and prices.
