United Kingdom
Identification provider Luciditi has launched Age Proof – the first digital ID card to be accredited by the Home Office-endorsed Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS). Convenience store retailers will be some of the first businesses to use it as part of a trial with age-verification auditor Serve Legal.
Available in 16+ and 18+ formats, which can be accessed via a smartphone app, product developer Luciditi believes the card will eventually eradicate the threat of retailers being prosecuted for accepting false ID from young people at point of purchase. The cards harness QR technology to provide real-time verification and offer greater data protection to young people, claims the firm.
The company is working with Serve Legal to roll-out a testing programme on products such as vapes, energy drinks and gambling scratch cards across retailers ranging from supermarkets to convenience stores.
Bhutan
The nationwide Bhutan National Digital Identity has launched its first ever digital identity system, based on a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) system. Individuals have sole ownership of whom they want to share and what to share using a digital wallet, where their digital credentials are stored.
Acting secretary of GovTech Agency and director of National Digital Identity, Jigme Tenzing said the app can help individuals with ease of use, data privacy and empowerment.
“Users will have full control over their personal data which is protected under the law, under the provisions of the NDI Act,” he said.
All the services present in the NDI app are free for individual use. Through the app, individuals can avail of 12 government-to-citizen (G2C) services including passport services, birth and death registration, and land taxes, among others. The Bhutan NDI has also links to Bank of Bhutan, Tashicell, and the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB). It is an ongoing process of onboarding more agencies.
Europe
Last month, the European Commission passed an initiative to speed up the digitalisation of EU social security systems coordination. The goal is to make access to social security “faster and simpler across borders,” according to Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights.
Currently, national institutions, healthcare providers and labour inspection services face difficulties in accessing and sharing data. In particular, they come up against a lack of interoperability between the computer systems managing various member-State social security schemes.
The Commission is calling on the 27 to speed up implementation of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) at national level. The latter is a digital communication and medical file exchange platform. Its infrastructure complies with European norms, making the different national EESSIs interoperable.
The Commission also aims to better digitalise social security coordination procedures and make them entirely available online. European citizens will therefore have easier and quicker access to the services they are entitled to, even outside their country of origin.
Finally, the European executive branch is calling for a speedy rollout of European digital identity wallets, to simplify the use of the European health insurance card’s e-version.
United Kingdom
A new report from Ondato, a KYC and AML compliance management firm based in London, has found that digital identity fraud in the crypto sector is most commonly committed using fake documents.
Ondato said that 42 percent of criminals committing crypto fraud use printed fake ID documents, most commonly passports, at 38 percent. Identity cards were almost as common, at 36 percent. Driver’s licenses made up 26 percent of attempts.
Other than printed ID documents, document images from other screens and manipulated documents are also used frequently in crypto fraud attempts, at 31 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Only five percent come from failed face biometrics.
United States
Clear, a company known for its biometric identity verification tech used in airports, is partnering with Verato, a cloud-based patient matching platform, to accelerate the adoption of digital identity in healthcare to reduce friction, save time and reduce costs.
Working together, Clear and Verato will connect the identity verification process at the digital “front door” with back-end data management platforms.
The technology connects patients’ disparate health information, from insurance information to credit cards and electronic medical records, using a single sign-on, HIPAA-compliant account. Patients are prompted for a selfie and a photo of their government-issued ID, followed by some basic questions that allow them to opt-in to securely access, control and share their own personal health information with authorised users, according to a Clear blog post.
Global
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has released a blog post outlining a rights-based and inclusive digital ID governance framework in response to frequent requests for institutional support.
The goal of Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 is to provide legal identity and birth registration for all, underscoring the importance of comprehensive civil registration.
Leaders must establish robust governance from the start to ensure implementation is effective and serves the public good, the post reads. Proper governance also gives the private sector the confidence to invest in digital transformations and gives end users a sense of trust in the new systems.
The governance framework sets out to establish a standard model of laws and policies that facilitate the digital ID shift while prioritising individual rights. It also builds on lessons learned from the UN System’s identity management ecosystem that is based on civil registration.
The framework consists of nine components: legal and regulatory frameworks, non-discrimination, access to information, legal accountability, capable institutions, user value, procurement and anti-corruption, and data protections.
United States
IDEMIA Identity and Security has been awarded a three-year contract for its Identity and Verification services by CentralAMS (CAMS), a provider of payment and consumer intelligence gateway solutions for the online gaming industry.
IDEMIA’s Identity & Verification (ID&V) solution features identity proofing to ensure that individuals are who they claim to be. It also incorporates document authentication technology with robust checks, such as digital tampering detection, document identification, font anomaly detection, and more. IDEMIA’s ID&V solution is approved by the Kantara Initiative as compliant with NIST SP 800-63 rev. 3 Component Service at Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2).
United States
Agile-Bot II has received a contract to provide secure digital identification solutions for the US Defense Information Service Agency (DISA).
Under the contract, Agile-Bot II will deliver “identity verification and issuance of strong credentials” for DISA’s information technology and cybersecurity arm, the Joint Service Provider.
Resulting capabilities will be distributed across the US Department of Defense, where they will be leveraged for accessing protected online resources such as Public Key Certificates, electronically signed documents to validate a user’s authorisation.
Once completed, the project is expected to render “responsive and high-quality” digital identification for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Headquarters Department of the Army, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington Headquarters Services, and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, as per Biometric Update.
The initiative will also support Joint Service Provider in managing identity assurance systems for associated defence organisations in the National Capital Region and external customers.
Work for the contract has a base period of one year with a three-year additional option.
Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has activated its digital identity service ahead of forthcoming legislation to enable the creation of a national ecosystem, as banks race to monetise transactions using the credential ahead of a widespread rollout expected over the next two years.
While yet to be officially announced as live, the CBA’s website reveals Australia’s largest bank is now offering customers the ability to use digital identity credentials via its CBA app to verify customer identity, using biometric facial scans as part of digital payments offered by the bank.
Austria
The Austrian government has set a date for the launch of its new national digital identity system, ID Austria – December 5.
Handy-Signatur, the ID platform which citizens currently use to access a number of government services online, is set to phase out. 1.5 million people currently use ID Austria, and about 2.8 million others still using the Handy-Signatur will need to switch by December 5 at the latest, to continue obtaining certain government services digitally.
Those without a Handy-Signatur can create one before signing up for ID Austria, or they can register for an ID Austria directly. Direct registration will require the registrant showing up at a physical registration office to have their identity validated. A passport, residence permit, driver’s licence, or passport photo is required for this.
The government says ID Austria will facilitate identity verification in several situations and anywhere in the country and will serve as a replacement for physical copies of credentials such as the mobile driver’s licence. Austria launched the mDL and digital ID last year.
