United Kingdom / Thailand
Belfast-headquartered SureCert has been appointed as the digital identity partner for the government of Thailand following the company’s integral role in Northern Ireland’s digital Covid certification process.
The digital identify management company will assist the Thai government in building a foundation for the roll out of a digital identity strategy that will minimise fraud and provide secure, online access to government services for citizens.
SureCert has laid out an ambitious strategy to scale the business internationally and more than treble its workforce within the next two years under the leadership of new CEO, experienced Mark Owens. Owens was most recently managing director of Civica NI.
Kenya
An enrolment process is ongoing for members of the Pemba community in Kenya who have lived for decades without any legal ID. These are mostly descendants of people who settled in the community since the 1930s.
The government in Nairobi has agreed to begin issuing the Pemba community with ID cards following a declaration by President William Ruto in December 2022. There are believed to be more than 100,000 Pemba people in Kenya. The registration is expected to run till May.
United States
Daon has launched TrustX, a cloud-based platform for identity proofing and authentication. It will support the creation and deployment of user journeys across their entire digital identity lifecycle. The company said TrustX is optimised by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to reduce fraud and minimise friction in the customer experience.
Spain
Spanish digital identity firm Veridas said it has raised a €15 million capital increase from its own partners and new positioning as a global identity company.
The company has experienced a 133 percent growth over 2021 and expects to grow by a further 100% this year with an estimated annual turnover of €26.3 million and a planned workforce of 278 employees.
India
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The Government of India has released a draft notification proposing voluntary use of Aadhaar one-time passcode (OTP) or biometric authentication for non-government entities.
The proposed amendment to the 2020 Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance Rules, would enable better access to services and promote ease of living for residents, the government said.
Under the existing 2020 Aadhaar Authentication Rules, government departments can undertake a one-time passcode or biometric authentication to use digital platforms for governance, prevent the dissipation of social welfare benefits, enable innovation and spread knowledge.
The draft notification has proposed that a government department can potentially refer the request to use Aadhaar numbers to the government, which would place it in front of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Nepal
Nepal’s Cabinet is halting a biometric ID contract and forming a panel to probe the decision by the country’s former Home Minister to issue order that allegedly contravenes the country’s law, according to The Kathmandu Post, via Biometric Update.
The ‘Citizen Details Verification and Inter-System Affiliation Procedure’ was issued in December, giving seven days’ notice of a tender competition that included only one company, the report says, violating the Public Procurement Act. The one company was Advantage International Pvt Ltd., which is Idemia’s local representative.
According to Biometric Update: “The contract was to verify data from biometric national IDs, the issuance of which was announced in 2018 with Idemia as its supplier. The legislation had not been passed yet, though, and by mid-way through 2021, the government was reported to be considering bids on the project from Idemia and Thales, after rejecting the initial contract awarded to Idemia for a lack of a competitive bidding process.
“Now, a similarly uncompetitive practice will be probed by a three-member committee lead by the Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office. The committee will investigate the release of the Citizen Details Verification and Inter-System Affiliation Procedure-2022 by former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane just days after taking office.”
United States
Veriff has released enhanced identity verification capabilities for the video gaming industry.
The offering streamlines the identity verification (IDV) process for gamers, while helping gaming platforms safeguard their users by ensuring that players are only able to access age-appropriate content.
Veriff identifies if users meet age criteria by extracting the date of birth from a person’s government issued identity document and using data to calculate their age. The technology also ensures that the person is using a valid document – and that they are its rightful owner.
