Deploying an NFC Chip Reading SDK for High-Assurance Digital Identity Verification

Lucia Meusburger
Lucia Meusburger

Marketing kinegram.digital

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How Sumsub Strengthened its IDV Platform With MOBILE CHIP SDK

Sumsub
ChallengeSolutionResultsOutlookContact

Customer

Sumsub, full-cycle identity verification and compliance platform

Need

Deployment-ready NFC chip reading for global, high-assurance IDV

Solution

MOBILE CHIP SDK with thin mobile client and trusted werver verification

Outcome

Higher confidence, broader coverage and improved NFC success rates

Document diversity as a challenge for global identity verification platforms

Sumsub’s identity verification (IDV) platform operates globally, across a wide variety of customer risk profiles, regulatory contexts, and national identity documents. In that environment, NFC chip verification is not universally required, but becomes increasingly important as a growing number of jurisdictions and clients expect cryptographic verification as a mandatory high-assurance step.

Until recently, Sumsub relied on an in-house NFC chip reading solution built by its development team using open-source components. When customers approached the team with eIDAS-related requirements and demanded verification of German and Turkish ID cards, the team tried to develop or purchase a professional solution. Aiming at the ability to handle these new credentials, the solution was also intended to comply with certificate validation requirements.

Sumsub initially evaluated another external solution, but it did not meet the team’s implementation, integration, and delivery expectations. This challenge came in parallel with another problem: a growing number of document-specific, one-off workarounds. The team subsequently redefined their requirements for an NFC chip reading SDK and sought strong evaluation options to enable a controlled transition. After assessing multiple providers, kinegram.digital stood out as the most convincing option.

Specifically, Sumsub required:

Support for the broadest possible range of ePassports and eIDs, alongside different verification requirements across jurisdictions; as well as quick adaptation to non-ICAO or country-specific documents.

Robust and secure chip verification architecture for remote onboarding and KYC, scenarios where end-user smartphones cannot be treated as trusted execution environments.

Hassle-free integration and a smooth fit into Sumsub’s platform workflows, returning structured outputs that can be routed and acted on automatically.

In short, Sumsub set out to integrate a deployment-ready, operationally proven, flexible and trustworthy NFC chip reading SDK that could be used broadly across its platform, adapt quickly to new documents, and raise the assurance level of their IDV process. kinegram.digital’s MOBILE CHIP SDK emerged as the clear best fit.

For Sumsub, this was not just about adding another NFC reading capability. The priority was to strengthen high assurance verification inside its broader identity verification platform, where document checks, NFC results, risk signals, workflows, and customer specific decision logic can work together in one configurable flow.

Infobox

Sumsub is a leading full-cycle identity verification and compliance platform provider and helps businesses automate Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes and prevent fraud. With AI-driven, customizable, no-code workflows and support for thousands of document types, Sumsub is widely recognized by industry analysts for technical innovation and market responsiveness, including multiple ”Leader” placements in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Identity Verification and the 2025 Forrester Wave™ report. Sumsub was the first identity verification provider to complete the new Global Digital Identity Certification (GDIC) based on the ISO/IEC 29115 standard.

MOBILE CHIP SDK: thin mobile client and trusted on-premise verification for high assurance

Following a rigorous assessment, Sumsub selected kinegram.digital’s MOBILE CHIP SDK and integrated it as a high-assurance NFC chip verification component within its IDV stack.

The broad evaluation options of kinegram.digital allowed Sumsub to develop a thorough understanding of MOBILE CHIP SDK, and two factors especially contributed to their decision: the solution’s security architecture and its execution quality.

“We asked a lot of vendors the same questions. With kinegram.digital, the answers were straightforward, practical, and positive – finally. The very first call made it clear that they will deliver on their promises.”

Alexey Tupov

Alexey Tupov

IT Project Manager Sumsub

Thick-client vs. thin-client: How the slim architecture of MOBILE CHIP SDK enables secure NFC chip verification

Many approaches in the market operate as a thick-client SDK: the entire process is handled on device, meaning the mobile phone reads the chip, performs the core verification logic, and returns a decision. In remote onboarding, this is a structural weakness. On-device models increase risk exposure, as end-user mobile devices are not inherently trustworthy. Even if the chip’s cryptography is strong, attackers can exploit such processes in different ways, so that the mobile phone will wrongfully report a successful identity verification.

MOBILE CHIP SDK takes the opposite approach. It keeps the mobile component lean, reducing storage footprint, update burden, and long-term maintenance effort. The slim architecture of MOBILE CHIP SDK is a clear advantage over such approaches in the market. Its security-first approach preserves clear trust boundaries:

  • Thin client on the smartphone: the device performs NFC chip access and transmits the required data securely.
  • Trusted verification on the server: the verification logic and decisioning occur in a controlled environment, under customer governance, making outcomes harder to spoof and easier to audit.

This is the core reason Sumsub preferred MOBILE CHIP SDK over other models.

How MOBILE CHIP SDK fits into Sumsub’s verification stack

DocVal Service
delivered as an easily deployable Docker image that runs on-premise in Sumsub’s environment.

Privacy-by-design
DocVal Service stores no personal data and acts as a gateway between the eMRTD chip and Sumsub’s workflows.

Server-side verification
the untrusted client device facilitates chip access as thin client, while the verification logic remains on the trusted server side.

eMRTD security mechanisms
DocVal Service communicates with the eMRTD connector and supports relevant eMRTD security mechanisms. These include SOD/certificate validation, passive authentication, active authentication, chip authentication, and clone checks.

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Implementation and partner experience

Beyond the architecture of MOBILE CHIP SDK, Sumsub highlighted the practical difference working with kinegram.digital made during evaluation and rollout. In a market where many NFC chip reading solution providers offered only standalone apps and rigid commercial models, kinegram.digital was able to answer Sumsub’s requirements quickly and concretely, flexibly covering everything from document support to certificate validation needs to integration feasibility.

“What convinced us was the two-step setup: a thin client on the phone, and verification on the server. That’s the safe way to do it – have the actual verification happen in a controlled environment.”

Alexey Tupov

Alexey Tupov

IT Project Manager Sumsub

Better security confidence and measurable performance uplift

Once the MOBILE CHIP SDK was integrated, the impact was immediately felt, in the two areas that matter most: security confidence in remote scenarios, and measurable verification performance improvements.

93%

The overall NFC reading success rate is reported at 93%

90%

for about 90% of all cases, no additional validity checks are necessary

10-12%

an increase of 10-12% compared to outcomes before MOBILE CHIP SDK was deployed

  • Stronger security posture for remote onboarding and KYC

    By moving verification logic from the smartphone to a trusted server environment, Sumsub improved confidence in the chip verification outcomes for remote scenarios. This reduced exposure to device-side manipulation risks that thick-client models can face, and strengthened Sumsub’s ability to defend verification outcomes internally and towards their customers.

  • Better global coverage, fewer “one-offs”

    Sumsub’s objective was not merely “NFC reading”, but a chip verification component that can handle diverse international documents, including non-ICAO compliant ones, and the jurisdiction-specific, certificate-driven expectations that come with them. MOBILE CHIP SDK provided a scalable alternative to document-specific implementations. This strengthened Sumsub’s ability to offer NFC chip verification as part of a broader, configurable verification journey, rather than as a standalone document check.

  • Clear performance uplift compared to the in-house solution

    Sumsub runs MOBILE CHIP SDK alongside their in-house solution and can directly compare outcomes and success rates, which have improved with MOBILE CHIP SDK: The overall NFC reading success rate is reported at 93%, with complete failures typically due to user handling rather than system limitations. When NFC chips are successfully verified, the validation results are so strong that for about 90% of all cases, no additional validity checks are necessary – an increase of 10-12% compared to outcomes before MOBILE CHIP SDK was deployed.

  • Smooth implementation and proactive addition of new cases

    Sumsub integrated MOBILE CHIP SDK gradually and in a measured way, reporting a very smooth transition phase. Ongoing reviews proactively address document-specific extensions, such as ensuring the capability to verify Vietnamese identity documents for market readiness. Sumsub also noted further improved outcomes following a server upgrade.

“For our customers, it’s a back-end change only, but internally we can see the difference clearly in our dashboard: With MOBILE CHIP SDK, verification success rates and reliability are decidedly better than with our in-house solution.”

Alexey Tupov

Alexey Tupov

IT Project Manager Sumsub

Clearer global standards and faster adaptation to diversity

Sumsub’s experience reflects the challenges global IDV platforms face, where the technical capability to read and verify the chips of eMRTDs is only part of the challenge. The other part is the operational reality of document ecosystems and governmental expectations remaining varied across jurisdictions:

International standardization is incomplete; governmental requirements and document ecosystems are fragmented. Not every issuing authority enforces the same rules regarding document checks, chip verification, and certificate validation, which complicates operating globally while maintaining consistent trust levels.

Verification architectures must be built for untrusted devices. This increases the value of solutions that keep verification logic in a controlled environment and return highly trustworthy, auditable outcomes, especially as fraud methods evolve.

Platforms need components that adapt quickly as new documents, borderline cases, and jurisdictional expectations appear. The capability to rapidly accommodate new documents and verification requirements, without having to build one-off implementations, becomes a strategic advantage.

In this fragmented global landscape, the ability to add trust built on cryptographically defensible evidence through an NFC chip verification component becomes a practical advantage for global IDV platforms. Sumsub’s integration of MOBILE CHIP SDK is therefore more than adding a feature. It provides a scalable foundation for high-assurance identity verification that can easily be applied where required, while preserving a clear trust boundary and a defensible evidence trail for KYC, remote onboarding, and further use cases.

“Everyone would benefit from clearer, internationally consistent verification rules. Right now, the landscape is fragmented, and global platforms have to find ways to bridge the gaps. Luckily, kinegram.digital helps us do just that. Their know-how and the expertly developed MOBILE CHIP SDK are great assets in navigating this environment.”

Alexey Tupov

Alexey Tupov

IT Project Manager Sumsub

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MOBILE CHIP SDK helps identity verification platforms add high-assurance NFC chip verification with a thin mobile client and trusted server-side verification.

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