Spotlight on Airside

1.     In which sector(s) and country(ies) do you operate?

Airside’s privacy-based digital identity solutions help individuals and organizations share, verify, and manage personal information. While Airside started with the goal of using mobile technology to drive convenience throughout the travel experience, we believe no one should have to choose between convenience and privacy in any digital exchange of personal information. Our products and services are available and operational globally across a variety of sectors, such as travel, tourism, health, financial services, and more.

2.     What is your current market focus and what needs and areas of concern does your service/product address?

Our new Airside App is facilitating an easy and safe way for airline travelers to share their verified IDs from their mobile device, then self-check their luggage with facial recognition technology at the airport. Our app may also be used to enable other seamless, touchless, biometric experiences in the travel sector. For instance, our interoperable solution allows airports and airlines to implement the ID verification process without asking travelers to re-enroll information for each trip or sacrifice the privacy of sensitive information, enabling airports and airlines to provide the best experience for customers and employees.

Coming soon, Airside will also enable the sharing of verified COVID test results. Individuals can easily add their verified results to the new Airside App directly from a certified lab and securely share the results with an employer, travel operator, venue, and more. These organizations gain confidence that test results have not been tampered with and are compliant with local public health requirements, and worldwide privacy regulations.

Since 2014, our award-winning Mobile Passport App expedites a safe process through U.S. customs by U.S. and Canadian passport holders. Mobile Passport is the first app authorized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S. CBP) and is trusted by over nine million people.

3.     In what ways does your service/product push beyond the state-of-the-art?

Privacy and security are at the core of everything we build, and now, more than ever, the integrity of our virtual selves is of the utmost importance. We see how identity theft and identity fraud have skyrocketed with the rapid need for technology during COVID-19. While there may be other ways to verify and share IDs and other personal information, Airside does so in a way that is user-controlled and consent-driven, putting the individual in control of their data. This mitigates health and security risks that come with tedious and often inconsistent paper processes, human intervention and low-grade technology.

Our products and services build a connection of digital trust between people and the organizations with whom they share their ID(s). What’s more, Airside cannot access, does not own, and will not sell the information transmitted using our network. We only keep transaction records (which do not contain any personal information) for audit purposes.

4.     Where do you see the market trending in the mid/long term and how do you see your product/service playing into it?

The paradigm for digital identity has shifted and Airside is uniquely built in such a way to lead the industry with the highest levels of security and privacy standards. Digital identity now serves a critical function for everyday tasks. People are digitally sharing everything, from driver’s licenses and passports to school records and gym memberships. At the same time, the general public is becoming more aware and empowered by well-known privacy regulations, like GDPR and CCPA. Biometrics, for instance, is no longer a topic for tech-savvy early adopters. There is an immediate need for it and the secure transaction of all personal information. So, while people will continue to seek more virtual opportunities to conduct certain transactions, they’ll increasingly look for organizations or businesses that keep them safe, physically and digitally.

A lot of industries hit by COVID-19 are going to rebound and those who commit to personal data rights will do so faster than others. We’re eager to work with industries seeking to keep their employees and customers safe and healthy using our secure, scalable solutions to manage personal information with transparency.

5.     Why were you motivated to join Kantara Initiative and how do you see it helping your organization specifically, and the digital economy as a whole?

Airside has great respect for Kantara Initiative’s work to make our complex, connected lives ones that are user-centric, consent-driven, and ultimately, built on trust. We were motivated to join Kantara Initiative to help us establish an architecture where a clear, unambiguous information exchange can take place. Using Kantara’s Consent Receipt specifications, we are able to offer our partners a service that eliminates the need for centralized databases of personal information and greatly simplifies their compliance requirements. This also provides our network members with clarity of the scope of their personal information and control as to when, how and with whom to share it in a focused, deliberative manner.

It’s a huge step when we can bind our secure and convenient technology with first-class privacy and data protection principles, as standardized by Kantara and echoed in various data protection laws, regulations and international standards. Being together in the global, thought-leading digital economy with Kantara means that Airside’s digital identity privacy network has put the highest levels of privacy assurance and interoperability into real-life practice.

6.     What other significant aspects about your organization (service/product) should our global community know about?

Airside has always believed that privacy is a human right and builds secure and convenient digital identity technology in a manner that protects personal information and meets privacy regulations around the world accordingly. We promise to lead and innovate with our core principle, “Privacy First. Human Always.” Everyone deserves to be treated with equality, respect, and dignity because, ultimately, our true identity is as a human always.

About Airside

Airside is a private company that builds secure and convenient digital identity technology in a manner that protects personal information and meets privacy regulations around the world. Airside keeps privacy-by-design and leading-edge security as its guiding principles for use by individuals and organizations. Individuals are empowered by controlling their personal information with transparent consent protocols, and organizations protect against fraud and ensure a duty-of-care by managing only necessary information. The use of advanced encryption technology keeps all information safe and decentralized, eliminating any source verification database that can be accessed or used by Airside. Airside is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Learn more at www.airsidemobile.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

Contact:

Airside Corporate Communications

Email: press@airsidemobile.com

Telephone: (800) 210-6838 x 6