This interview was originally published on SNB

SatoshiNakamotoBlog: To begin, kindly tell us briefly about you and your experience?

Pim Voets: My name is Pim, I am from The Netherlands, and have been doing UX and concept design since 2002. Before that, I worked as a creative member at Ara Advertising, and as executive creative at Endemol International, now known as Talpa.

SNB: What is the main idea behind the project V-ID and why did you decide to work on it?

PV: V-ID started as a concept development project from WIDIDI, a software house where, since 2008, we have been building secure online platforms for organizations that typically handle sensitive data and communication. For us it felt like a logical step to extend this protection to the sensitive offline files that they produce.

SNB: V-ID utilize service generic and trusted principles to enable validation and verification for any digital file, of any publisher. This is possible thanks to the immutable and transparent nature of blockchain. Can you tell us more about this ?

PV: From the start we wanted to create something that is as simple as possible for the person that verifies the file, because we have seen this as a big hurdle with the traditional efforts to protect files. If we want V-ID to be adopted by a wide audience, it has to be simple and universally applicable. What is so great about blockchain, is that in our case it doesn’t matter what kind of filetype it is, blockchain is perfectly suitable to record any details around the file’s validation.

SNB: For those who are not familiar with the term, what is Blockchain, and why is it necessary for the V-ID solutions?

PV: It’s a data storage that is distributed globally, without any one party controlling it. The data is protected in a very smart way, using advanced cryptography.

Blockchain tech is currently the most secure way to store immutable data that is publicly accessible.

SNB: How is the competition in your segment of the market?

PV: There are traditional methods that try to protect just PDF’s, but it involves a lot of required actions, file modification and only work with the right versions of licensed software. As a result of current advancements in cyber crime, these methods are proven to be hackable and thus obsolete.

SNB: What are the problems you have identified in the solution for document fraud sector and what are V-ID’s solutions to these problems?

PV: Currently, there is no solution that has not been hacked or abused. The tools are impractical and expensive to deploy, which is why in the real world, people just won’t bother to go through all the steps to check the integrity of a file. V-ID uses blockchain, because it is the most secure way to store a file’s fingerprint, that mankind has come up with to date. We combine that kind of security with the simplest way for a recipient to check the file’s integrity; all you need is a browser and 5 seconds. No account, no login, no plugin or software installation, just choose the file and get V-ID’s verification report in 5 seconds to be assured that the content is still 100% the same as originally published.

SNB: Are you focused in any specific geographic areas?

PV: Currently northern Europe but our clients are mostly active globally.

SNB: Who is your target audience?

PV: Any organisation that creates files and wants to be sure, or prove to others, that their files can not ever be unlawfully manipulated. There are many sectors where this is immediately helpful, for instance educational institutes who publish digital diploma’s and certificates. Other organizations around sensitive material, such as defence contractors, can protect audit trails, so beforehand they can prove that it is always 100% clear who logged into their systems when and where. We are also talking with organizations in the heavy industrial sector, where equipment is regularly certified to prove that the installations are safe and operate properly.

SNB: Tell us about the V-ID business model, how does it work?

PV: At the moment we operate B2B, where organizations that need to validate files buy monthly VIDT bundles from us. With each validation, a transaction with VIDT is done, which records all the necessary details around that specific validation.

The most important factor is to be sure that the party who validates the file is the rightful owner and publisher of that file. If anyone could validate a file, it would be vulnerable to fraud and make the service useless. This is why we offer an extensive validation service, remote or on site, optionally attended by a V-ID-trained notary, to confirm the file’s origin and the identities of anyone validating.

V-ID also offers system integration solutions to make the validation process work seamlessly with an organizations’ own systems.

Further down the road, we can see several B2C use cases, especially around online identification, that we want to develop.

SNB: Is your project already operational and functional? Do you already have customers and/or partners? Who are they ?

PV: Yes it is. We have a minimal viable product (MVP) using a temporary codebase to serve our current clients. V-ID is currently in use at organizations like Airbus Defence & Space, European research institute ESHRE, fiber network Vitrumnet, JWC Superyachts and Maritime Cyber Alliance.

We have a partnership with Alterdax, backed by renowned blockchain investor Han de Groot, who help us with everything around the token sale, and have an incredible network to connect us with. As for new partners, we have some very exciting partnerships in the works with some of the most well known organizations within the blockchain sphere. I hope to announce those somewhere in the coming weeks.

SNB: What can you tell us about your team? Do your team members have relevant background and experience?

PV: Most of our team members have been working together making secure business platforms for at least 10 years, the core team even for 15 years. We have build secure platforms for organizations like CSO Alliance, Gloucestershire Police, RAF Museum, Dutch BMW dealership association, Graydon and Ricoh. Our platforms are regularly undergoing penetration tests, done by independent third party organizations, to achieve the best possible protection at all times. Our expertise in secure software, combined with blockchain technology makes us a perfect candidate to develop a platform like V-ID.