Kforce adds 1Kosmos checks to stop consultant fraud

Kforce has selected 1Kosmos to verify consultants' identities before they begin client assignments. The system will be used across about 17,000 placements each year.

The move follows a rise in candidate fraud at Kforce, including cases where the person who arrived for an assignment was not the same individual interviewed by recruiters and clients. In some instances, concerns were raised only after a consultant had already started work for a client.

With more than 8,000 consultants on assignment at any given time, the staffing and solutions firm said this created risks for both client trust and access to client systems. Kforce had already introduced internal controls and investigation teams, but gaps remained during handoffs between recruiters, account managers and client interviewers.

The 1Kosmos platform has been added as an independent identity verification step in Kforce's compliance process. Every hire completes a mobile identity check before an assignment starts, regardless of location.

The process includes validation of a government-issued identity document, capture of a live facial image and a check that matches the individual to the submitted document. It also uses liveness detection to identify attempts to use a photo, video or deepfake instead of a real person.

Kforce said the aim is to confirm before day one that the consultant reporting for work is the same person who was hired. Each verification also creates a record that can be reviewed later, while access to sensitive information is limited by role.

This gives the company an auditable process for audit, legal and risk teams to use in discussions with clients. The deployment was completed in less than six weeks and did not require what Kforce described as a large-scale integration.

Matthew Nelson, Senior Director of Program Management at Kforce, said the change fills a missing control in the hiring process.

"We put together some stringent processes and internal technology, but we were missing independent ID verification," Nelson said.

"1Kosmos provides assured identity that the person we interviewed and onboarded is the same person that shows up at our client's location," he said.

The case highlights a wider concern in employment and cyber security: impersonation during recruitment and onboarding, particularly when hiring is conducted remotely. The source material pointed to schemes involving North Korean IT workers, as well as attacks in which criminals impersonate existing staff to manipulate help desks and gain access.

In staffing models where recruiters, clients and candidates may all interact remotely, identity checks have taken on greater importance. A consultant can pass through several stages of review before beginning an assignment, and final confirmation of identity may otherwise depend on manual processes or client feedback after the placement has begun.

1Kosmos said this was the weakness Kforce wanted to address. Mike Engle, Chief Security Officer at 1Kosmos, said the gap can remain even after an interview process has been completed.

"A recruiter and client can complete an interview and still have a different person arrive on day one," Engle said.

"1Kosmos enables Kforce to address this handoff and verify the person who will start work is the same individual that was hired, while giving its teams a record they can review if a client raises a concern," he said.

Kforce is also considering whether identity verification could be applied more widely across its workforce processes. It is evaluating where identity may need to be established, challenged or re-established over time, beyond the initial hiring stage.

That suggests the current deployment could become part of a broader approach to workforce identity management, especially in sectors where large numbers of contractors or consultants are placed into client environments. For staffing firms, the issue is not only fraudulent applications but also the operational challenge of maintaining confidence in who is carrying out an assignment.

1Kosmos, which focuses on remote identity verification and passwordless authentication, said it conducts millions of authentications daily for organisations in banking, telecommunications, healthcare, retail and technology services. It has raised more than USD $72 million in venture funding.

For Kforce, the immediate change is practical: an identity check before access is granted and before a client has to discover a mismatch after a consultant has already started work.