5 Identity Verification Trends Employers Should Know

First Advantage customers are increasingly deploying identity verification as a critical component in the hiring process. With the right digital identity solutions and processes in place, identity verification helps mitigate potential identity fraud while building a foundation of trust in the workforce.

As these identity solutions continue to evolve, companies embracing new technologies and multi-layered identity assurance (IAL2) are well-positioned to help protect their business and their brand.

Here are five leading digital identity verification trends employers can leverage in 2026, based on the latest industry insights:

1. AI-Driven Threats: Deepfakes and Other Forgeries

AI-generated identity fraud has moved from a fringe risk to posing a common threat to organizations. Employers now face sophisticated new forms of applicant fraud when hiring new talent, such as synthetic identities and AI-generated forgeries.

Including deepfakes and documents, these fraud techniques are already a major threat to hiring organizations. According to recent research, 42.5% of identity fraud cases in 2024 involved some form of AI cybercrime.

What countermeasures can employers use? First Advantage’s customers are adopting liveness detection, facial recognition, and multi-factor authentication (e.g., authenticator apps) designed to help mitigate their vulnerability to identity fraud.

2. Multi-Layered Identity Assurance

Cybercriminals are using ever more sophisticated identity fraud tactics. That’s why organizations are adopting identity verification beyond just single-point checks during the hiring process.

AI and data-powered identity verifications can now help employers mitigate potential identity fraud, reduce hiring friction, and make their background screening program more consistent. This technology includes:

• Rising Identity Assurance Standards: Organizations will want to consider implementing best standards for identity verification across their hiring process. These measures can include a combination of methods such as liveness detection with facial recognition, ID document review, telecom and device intelligence, biographic matching, and biographic data.
• Biometric Algorithms: New technologies can analyze an applicant’s physical appearance and micro-movements to detect spoofing attempts.

3. Identity Trends Going Beyond the Traditional Workplace

The hiring process is no longer a single “one-and-done” event for hiring managers and HR teams. The shift to distributed work has introduced new hiring risks that require verification at multiple points, from interview to onboarding and beyond. Digital identity verification now plays a role in:

• Hybrid and Remote work: Many employers are now scheduling identity checks at multiple steps throughout the candidate journey, regardless of where their employees are located.
• Interview Security: Identity checks are now often implemented earlier in the hiring lifecycle, including the interview stage. Fraudsters are using deepfakes or stand-in people during remote interviews, which some companies have discovered only after having onboarded individuals who turned out to be different people than the ones who originally interviewed.
• Employer Response: HR teams can help defend against these new threats by using precautions such as video-based identity checks, secure onboarding platforms, and behavioral biometrics.

4. Regulatory Shifts: Identity Fraud Detection Standards

Government standards are raising the baseline for effective ID verification. Employers operating in regulated or high-risk environments are now being held to higher expectations.

For instance, industries embracing the IAL2 standard include banks, investment firms, healthcare providers accessing electronic health records, government agencies for services like tax filing, and telecommunication companies protecting customer information.

5. Decentralized Identity (DID): Leading ID Trends for Employer Innovation

A new generation of identity tools is emerging, centered on portability, privacy, and user control. These technologies are beginning to reshape how employers verify credentials. Let’s examine a few:

• Decentralized Identity (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs): DIDs allow individuals to control and share their VCs in a secure and private manner, including work history and certifications, without relying on a central database. This gives users the freedom and convenience to offer proof of their identities whenever needed.
• Faster, Private, and Portable: DIDs and VCs also reduce friction in the hiring process, allowing employers to instantly verify credentials through platforms like the ID.me Wallet.

Preparing for What’s Next in Digital Identity

Identity verification trends are evolving quickly, and employers should stay in-the-know. From AI-generated threats to new assurance standards, the trends shaping hiring in 2026 call for smarter, more adaptive strategies.

Need guidance on strengthening your identity verification program? Learn more about our identity solutions.

Contact our experts today to help your organization design a more secure and fraud-resilient hiring process.