1Kosmos, Fischer boost campus ID to tackle enrolment fraud

1Kosmos has partnered with Fischer Identity to offer identity verification and passwordless sign-in for colleges and universities facing enrollment fraud and financial aid scams.

The deal combines 1Kosmos' identity proofing and authentication technology with Fischer Identity's experience in integrating identity and access management (IAM) systems in higher education. The companies position the package as a way for institutions to verify an individual once and reuse that assurance across multiple campus services.

Universities often rely on a mix of legacy systems, cloud applications and third-party services. That creates a complex access environment for prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty and administrative staff-and more opportunities for criminals using synthetic identities or stolen personal details.

Fraud involving so-called ghost students has drawn increased attention as institutions expand digital services and financial aid processes move online. The term generally refers to applicants who do not intend to study but use a fabricated or stolen identity to gain access to funds or services. Synthetic identity fraud can blend real and fake data, making it harder to detect when checks rely on limited sources.

Campus identity

The joint offering is designed to integrate with existing campus IAM workflows, combining identity proofing, credential verification, biometric checks, and stronger authentication. The goal is to verify identity at onboarding and maintain that level of trust as a person's status changes over time.

Access needs also shift across the higher education lifecycle. Prospective students need access to applications and enrolment systems; students require ongoing entry to learning platforms, library tools and campus services; alumni may retain access to portals and communications; and staff access often changes with roles and departmental moves.

Fischer Identity will act as the distributor and systems integrator for 1Kosmos in higher education, leading institution-facing deployments and integrating across campus directories and authentication services.

1Kosmos describes its platform as providing remote identity verification and passwordless multi-factor authentication. In higher education, it is pitched as a way to reduce reliance on passwords while adding stronger authentication checks during onboarding and sign-in.

Huzefa Olia, COO of 1Kosmos, said institutions must balance broad access with stronger security.

"Higher education faces a unique combination of open access requirements and growing identity risk," Olia said.

He linked the approach to common constraints in university IT estates, including long-running applications and decentralised governance.

"By partnering with Fischer Identity, we're making it easier for institutions to embed biometric identity proofing, verified identity credentials, and passwordless authentication into existing IAM environments, helping stop fraud, reduce friction, and protect students and staff at every stage of the lifecycle," Olia said.

Integrator role

Fischer Identity focuses on IAM software and services for organisations with hybrid environments. In this partnership, it will connect 1Kosmos' proofing and authentication capabilities to the identity stack already used across campus systems.

Bryan Leber, CEO of Fischer Identity, pointed to the range of user populations universities manage and the need to support many systems.

"Universities need identity solutions that work across diverse systems and populations, from prospective students and alumni to faculty and administrative staff," Leber said.

He also cited use cases in enrolment and financial aid, as well as ongoing access for authenticated users.

"This partnership allows us to bring proven identity verification and passwordless capabilities into higher-ed IAM environments, helping institutions secure enrollment, financial aid, and ongoing access while improving the digital experience for users," Leber said.

What it covers

The offering targets identity proofing for students, alumni and staff, including biometric verification as part of the proofing process. It also aims to reduce enrolment and financial aid fraud tied to synthetic or stolen identities.

It is also designed for fragmented IAM environments, where institutions may maintain separate identity stores and access policies across departments and platforms. That can lead to duplicated accounts and inconsistent controls. The vendors say the integration approach strengthens assurance across those systems.

Passwordless authentication is another element, based on a verified digital identity that can be reused. The companies position it as persisting from enrolment through academic access and into alumni engagement, reducing the need for repeated identity checks as users move between services.

The 1Kosmos platform for higher education is available through Fischer Identity. Next, the companies expect deployments within campus IAM programmes as universities evaluate how the tools fit existing registration, student information and financial aid workflows.