United Kingdom
UK consumers may soon obtain digital identity theft insurance to protect themselves from online threats and risks, thanks to new solutions from the insurance company Wallife.
Wallife’s insurance policies, soon to be available in the UK, protect and compensate users if their digital identities are compromised, for example if their social media or financial savings are accessed illegally. The firm’s digital identity solutions are the first services available to protect UK consumers from those new digital threats with an individual behavioural signature, which establishes whether a device user is the real owner or an imposter.
Global
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Council has adopted a new set of recommendations on how digital identity should be governed.
The first of the recommendations emphasises the creation of “user-centred and inclusive digital identity systems” which are effective and usable and can “respond to the needs of users and service providers.” It also notes the importance of prioritising inclusion and minimizing “barriers to access.”
The second pillar focuses on shoring up the governance surrounding digital identity, saying that this requires both a “strategic approach” as well as “defining roles and responsibilities” throughout the ecosystem. Goals such as data privacy and security are also emphasised, as well as aligning legal and regulatory frameworks.
The third concerns the cross-border use of digital identity. The goals highlighted include “achieving cross-jurisdictional portability of digital identity” as well as “co-operating internationally to establish the basis for trust in other jurisdictions,” though the report also acknowledges the complexity of doing so.
Europe
DigiCert is to provide digital trust services to the European Production Giganet (EuProGigant) project.
EuProGigant is to demonstrate “a shared, intelligent and automated data ecosystem that will drive value creation within the European manufacturing sector.” This will be the first practical implementation that made Gaia-X grasp and understandable for the manufacturing domain, a framework for federated European data architecture.
DigiCert will provide its own digital trust services, based on the DigiCert ONE platform, within the EuProGigant’s Federation Services for Secure Identity & Authentication. These include Content and IoT Trust Services and follow eIDAS guidelines for creating verifiable credential wallets as well as the Self-Description Principles of Gaia-X.
Nigeria
Nigeria’s lower chamber of Parliament (House of Representatives) has warned that the federal government risks incurring huge financial cost should it proceed with the termination of a current contract for the production of 10 million biometric passports for Nigerians, reports Biometric Update.
An estimated US$47.5 million will be required to replace the existing passport infrastructure run by the current contractor if the government wants to take over the production process.
This is part of recommendations contained in a report by an Ad-Hoc Committee which was mandated by the House to investigate and advise on a proposed federal government move to take over the production of biometric passports, a contract currently held by a local company Iris Smart Technologies Limited.
According to the Ad-Hoc Committee report, which was approved by the entire green chamber recently before its valedictory session to mark the end of the legislature, “it will be to the legal detriment of the Federal Government to unilaterally terminate this agreement for any reason until it runs its course, which is the production of 10 million e-Passports or the current remainder under the circumstances,” Voice of Nigeria reports.
Europe / Central America
iProov has been selected by software developer Undercoverlab to add facial recognition for user authentication into itssecurity software.
The partnership will look to provide faster and more reliable user authentication via facial biometrics, aimed mainly at governments and financial institutions across Europe and Central America. In particular, the move will see iProov’s technology integrated into Undercoverlab’s ‘Tsubacheck’ security solution.
France
The French Senate has voted to adopt a draft law that will allow judicial investigators and intelligence services to use remote biometric identification in public for three years.
The draft law was adopted amid opposition from human rights organisations and certain politicians with 226 votes in favor and 177 votes against from left-wing senators.
The new draft specifies that real-time facial recognition use in public will be limited to tracking down terrorists by intelligence services, child abductions and particularly serious crimes. In the latter two cases, judicial investigators will need to seek out authorisation from the Prime Minister, prosecutor or examining judge which will only be valid for 48 hours.
Retrospective use of facial recognition, i.e. on recorded videos, will be authorized for terrorism and serious crime investigations by the prosecutor or examining judge. Authorization in cases of terrorism will last for one month.
Australia / New Zealand
Thales is to acquire Australian cybersecurity vendor Tesserent, in a bid to increase the biometrics and digital identity giant’s footprint in Australia and New Zealand. The deal is reportedly worth US$119 million.
Tesserent provides digital security services, including penetration testing, vulnerability management and incident response services, physical access control and video security.
