Digital Identity: Global Roundup

United Kingdom

Digital identity firm GBG is integrating its identity data and document verification capabilities into Moody’s Maxsight platform for unified risk management.

The partnership will see users able to verify the identity of company directors and Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) in one platform, a critical step in Know Your Business (KYB) compliance.

United States

HYPR, the Identity Assurance Company, today announced at Identiverse an initiative to deliver phishing-resistant identity assurance across devices and applications. It includes the public launches of the free HYPR Affirm identity verification solution trial and HYPR’s new Workforce Identity Verification Audit.

The company is also forging a partnership with HID Global to unify physical and digital access through verified identities. By combining software- and hardware-based FIDO authenticators, including HID Crescendo smart cards, the HYPR and HID integration enables organisations to deploy one smart credential “for every door, device, and application.”

Global

OCR Studio has added new features to its web-based ID scanner to enable secure online onboarding in the browser via selfie ID verification. The technology verifies the user’s face to confirm the presence of a live person and compares it against the reference image from the photo on their ID — without transferring images to third-party servers. The new solution is designed to prevent spoofing attacks during the onboarding process in web environments.

United Kingdom

Orchestrating Identity has been awarded dual certification from Kantara Initiative as both an Identity Service Provider (IDSP) and an Orchestration Service Provider (OSP), one of only six organisations to hold both certifications.

Kantara Initiative is currently the only UK-accredited certification body authorised to assess and certify digital identity service providers against the UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), ensuring compliance with government-defined standards and best practices.

Europe

New research from Signicat has revealed that most European businesses remain confident despite reporting a rise in identity fraud in the last year. Businesses estimate that 19% of all transactions are fraudulent.

Based on responses from over nine hundred fraud decision makers from the UK, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, the report evaluates insights from the payments/ fintech, banking, insurance, gaming and automotive/ mobility sectors.

Fifty-nine percent of businesses report that identity fraud attempts have increased compared to one year ago, and report 22 percent of annual business revenue being impacted by identity fraud and the costs of trying to prevent it. Meanwhile 80 percent argue that pushing back against fraudsters only prompts them to change their tactics.

Jordan

Jordan has approved the launch of a new digital service that allows individuals and institutions to verify the financial solvency of check issuers, in a move aimed at strengthening financial transparency and regulatory oversight.

The Cabinet approved the rollout of the service via the CRIF Jordan platform, which would be accessible through the “Sanad” app. In addition to solvency checks, the platform would offer digital identity verification and electronic signature capabilities.

The initiative aims to protect recipients of checks ahead of the planned suspension of criminal penalties for bounced checks, shifting enforcement to a civil-based framework, according to a statement.

The service also allows users to assess the financial credibility of check issuers, enabling more informed decisions on accepting or rejecting payments.

United Kingdom

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has awarded a pair of multimillion contracts to provide cybersecurity and technical architecture services for the GOV.UK One Login programme – as the project to deliver the new sign-in tool begins work to reattain the system’s recently lost formal trust certification, as per PublicTechnology.

GDS gas entered into a two-year £8 million deal with PA Consulting “for the provision of technical architecture services… to support GDS’s digital identity programme”. The organisation has also awarded another 24-month engagement related to its digital ID work, with Accenture winning a £9.5 million contract to provide “cyber security services”.

United States

More than 80 organisations and experts have come together to oppose a new surveillance feature of digital identity systems known as ‘Phone Home,’ which allows the government to track individuals through their digital driver’s licences or other identity documents. Signatories include the American Civil Liberties Union, privacy and civil liberties groups, as well as academics, state legislators, CEOs of digital identity companies, cryptographers, and other experts.

In a statement they said: “Whether it is designed to “phone home” to the issuer when somebody verifies their identity. Currently, when somebody presents a plastic driver’s license, that interaction is between the two parties, and the government is none the wiser. But digital driver licenses are being built so that the system notifies the government every time an identity card is used, giving it a bird’s-eye view of where, when, and to whom people are showing their identity. That ‘phone home’ functionality becomes especially intrusive as people start having to use digital ID online, giving the government the ability to track your browsing history.”

“Creating a system through which the government can track us any time we use our driver’s license is an Orwellian nightmare,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology project. “There is a broad consensus among those who work, think, and innovate in the digital identity space that privacy needs to be built in to any digital identity system. This is not a partisan issue and it’s one states must act on before it’s too late.”

Finland / Bahrain

Finland and Bahrain are exploring a potential partnership to develop interoperable digital identity solutions, according to an announcement from Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA).

The collaboration would focus on developing interoperable digital ID systems that could serve both citizens and residents in Bahrain and Finland. The partnership aims to enhance digital government services while ensuring alignment with international standards and security protocols. This includes privacy safeguards, technical compatibility, and support for future cross-border use cases, as per the announcement.

United Kingdom

Seventy percent of UK real estate professionals have seen an increase in identity fraud over the past year. Despite the rise, only 14% of cases are regularly reported to the authorities, according to a study commissioned by Credas Technologies.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they had come across fake identity documents. When asked about their top concerns within ID verification, 34 percent pointed to fraud, ahead of customer experience (24 percent) and operational inefficiencies (20 percent).

United Kingdom

Downing Street is exploring new proposals for a digital ID card to “crack down on illegal migration, rogue landlords and exploitative work”, set out in a policy paper authored by a centre-left thinktank, according to a report in The Guardian.

The paper has been handed to the No 10 policy unit to flesh out proposals for a BritCard, which would be a mandatory digital credential that Labour Together claims could help avoid another Windrush scandal.

But it said it would also help reduce vast numbers of visa overstayers, saying half of those whose asylum claims were turned down over the past 14 years were likely still to be in the UK.

It proposes a free, secure digital ID, stored on a person’s smartphone using the planned gov.uk Wallet app, rebranded as the BritCard app. That could then be verified by employers, immigration, banks and landlords using a free verifier app.

The paper said that it would cost up to £400 million to build the system and around £10 million a year to administer as a free-to-use phone app.