Digitalisation is taking our daily lives online rapidly, and as more and more businesses are starting to provide services online, cybersecurity has become an essential topic, especially in regards to online identity. We became inseparable from our mobile phone which is becoming our identity with all the personal information we store on our devices. How do we prove who we say we are?- is the question often asked.
It is risky to solely rely on the information provided by the users, thus using a third party to verify the information is objective and crucial. It is an undeniable fact that we now lack an efficient and effective universal solution to resolve this challenge. Currently, the most common authentication methods are biometrics and various one time password verification methods such as text messages, hardware tokens, soft authentication apps, etc. For instance, the SMS text message one time verification, still the most widely used method, is a 27 year old technology which bears high risk of being intercepted or manipulated.
Polydigi Tech’s unique patented comparison technology is a simple solution that solves the above challenge. We have developed an innovative technology that can cross verify mobile phone numbers as identity in real time while protecting user privacy, and it is integrated with the existing technology that has the most sophisticated infrastructure that covers most parts of the globe and even the coming 5G network.
Polydigi’s comparison technology is built on the existing mobile network as the mobile phone has become an individual’s identity. The fundamental concept consists of three main pillars: the telecommunication companies, service providers and PolyDigi Tech. We take a fragment of user’s encrypted information provided from each party involved and once the user authorises the authentication, the process will begin and when all conditions are met, the comparison mechanism will compare and generate results to be sent back to service providers for final verification and decision making. It is done in real-time and has zero risk of privacy information leakage since at no time during the process the user’s full information is being shared. We work closely with telecommunication companies and service providers for integration and adoption to provide real time protection. We even had the breakthrough that the users will be able to enjoy the extra security benefit even under circumstances without mobile network coverage. Since it is built on existing technology and design ready for 5G, this will be a simple integration for businesses without the need for constructing new infrastructure which reduces much cost for improved security.
As Bank of England just announced that all banks should implement a 2nd factor authentication for their services which coincides with the European Banking Authority removing SMS one-time-password as one of the Payment Service Directive (PSD2) compliant Strong Customer Authentication(SCA) solutions. The most widely used SMS one time passcode will become obsolete within 15 months, and Polydigi can provide the most optimal alternative solution to protect your business and customer’s money.
In 1988, the Polydigi Tech’s CEO Curtis, after graduating from Poly University where he met many entrepreneur friends who planted the seed and encouraged him to never be afraid to pursue his interest. With this encouragement, he had his mind set on gaming development. While helping out his family business, he was devoted to improving his programming skill. He was re-learning everything from scratch from writing a gaming engine to all the details to create a game. It was a long hard road that he chose, but it also laid the foundation for his solid technical skills. At the time, Curtis felt no one understood him and success seemed nowhere near for his entrepreneur journey. While developing his own games and doing research, he found that online games aren’t without loopholes, and he was always wondering how to prevent players from being cheated or hacked. One day he purchased game points to charge for his game characters and the verification process using the telecommunication technology provided him with an epiphany how he can utilise the technology to provide a better verification method. In 2012, Curtis established Polydigi Ltd Hong Kong to conduct research on authentication methodology while producing his own mobile game, and in 2013 he entered the Science Park Incubation program to further improve his product and research. His first game he built from scratch successfully accumulated more than 12 million downloads. As more and more security breaches,, Curtis decided to focus on the development of authentication technology to improve cybersecurity and online identity verifications for asset protection by using security knowledge he learnt from building the game.
In 2015, Alexander joined Curtis on his journey, and together they encountered many more roadblocks before their hard work was recognised even after obtaining the first patent for his authentication technology. Then they focus on the first potential client, the banking sector which requires multi-factor authentication to protect the end-users. After extensive research and hearings from banks and telecommunication companies, they gained further understanding of the exact needs and requirements for this technology to be applicable. With this realisation, they then embarked on their journey again towards a different direction and applied for the second patent. When they thought everything was taking a better turn, they encountered countless new obstacles and couldn’t attract enough traction. They nearly gave up. In 2018, they decided to enter a hackathon organised by Bank of China(Hong Kong), and agreed that they will part ways should they fail to win.
As the result of the competition, Polydigi’s technology was not only endorsed by Bank of China and won an award for Outstanding Network Security System. Through this award, Polydigi gained a lot of exposure and attention. In the same year. Polydigi then received the Gold Prize at the DIT Fintech Award, and was invited by the UK government to explore the UK market on a delegation. This trip opens the door to the global market for Polydigi and is where they met another of their future partner Monika.
In 2019, Polydigi’s authentication was granted their second patent, accepted by the RBS accelerator program and secured their telecommunication strategic business partners. In November, the same year, Polydigi was restructured and re-established as Polydigi Tech Ltd. as their operational headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland. They have then partnered with 3 prestigious local universities to commercialise and further develop their technology with the goal of making Scotland the global authentication base.
CEO- Curtis Chan
• BSc(Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering in Hong Kong Polytechnic University • Over 5 years in Cyber Security Industries
• Over 15 years in games and services design and development
COO- Alexander Chow
• An IT, E/M-commerce, R&D projects, machine-human interface , and manufacturing process automating entrepreneur.
- With 20 years of experience in information technology and security operation, process improvement, R&D exposure over Asia
- Possess over 8 years of independent review and assess experience on projects for listed companies and MNCs.
- Honorable Degree of Economics (CUHK)
CIO- Monika Ohashi
• Founding member and Head of Business Development at Ginco Inc. – the largest wallet app/blockchain service provider in Japan
• 3+ years in blockchain industry
• 3+ years in PR, specialises in IT, cybersecurity, pharmaceutical and public sectors
• Fully trilingual, English, Japanese, Mandarin, and have in depth understand all three cultures
