United States
US federal agencies will be required to offer Login.gov as a sign-in option across a wide range of public-facing government websites within two years, under a new directive from the Office of Management and Budget.
Agencies have 60 days to identify public-facing sites requiring authentication, 240 days to conduct digital identity risk assessments and one year to adopt Login.gov best practices. The Department of Defense, intelligence community elements and national security systems are exempt, while agencies can continue offering commercial identity providers where there is a specific need. However, Login.gov must become the default option for new accounts among users it can serve.
Australia
Australia is introducing new digital identity and privacy protections designed to give citizens greater control over how their identity documents and personal information are used.
The measures include IDLock, a service being added to myGov that will allow people to block, unblock and monitor use of their identity documents through the government’s Document Verification Service. The initiative builds on the Credential Protection Register introduced following the Optus and Medibank breaches. The government says that register has blocked more than 830,000 fraudulent identity verification attempts since its launch in 2022.
Spain
Yoti is removing its Yoti ID app from Apple and Android app stores in Spain from September 10 as its dispute with the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) continues.
The move follows the regulator’s decision earlier this year to fine Yoti €950,000 for GDPR violations relating to biometric data processing, consent design and data retention, which we reported in March. Yoti is appealing the decision through Spain’s High Court.
Yoti says complying with its understanding of the AEPD’s decision would require it to offer a non-biometric alternative to facial authentication. The company argues that doing so would weaken protections against impersonation and account takeover, and has therefore decided to pause new downloads rather than offer a modified Spanish version of the app.
Existing Spanish users can continue using the current version of Yoti ID. The company hopes to republish the app following the conclusion of its appeal.
Kenya
Kenya is working with French identity technology provider IN Groupe to explore development of a national authentication platform designed to support access to public and private services.
ICT and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo met IN Groupe representatives in August, with both sides agreeing to continue technical and policy discussions around an interoperable digital identity system. Kabogo said building public trust in digital identity and ensuring coordination across Kenya’s digital public infrastructure were priorities.
IN Groupe already has a role in Kenya’s identity infrastructure through Nexus, which supplied the public key infrastructure platform selected for the country’s Government Certification Authority in 2023.
Poland
Polish identity technology company Authologic has been registered as a Trust Service Provider able to issue Electronic Attestations of Attributes for use through EU Digital Identity Wallets.
The registration was granted by Narodowy Bank Polski and makes Authologic the first provider in Poland and one of the first in Europe registered to issue the cryptographically signed credentials. Businesses can already use the platform to issue and verify EAAs, as well as test them through Authologic’s EUDI Playground.
The development comes as EU member states prepare to make European Digital Identity Wallets available from December 2026, followed by further requirements around electronic identification under the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation from July 2027.
Bermuda
The Bermuda Monetary Authority has dropped plans for a standalone licensing regime for digital identity providers after concluding there is insufficient evidence that the island could support a sustainable domestic market.
Instead, the regulator will examine how banks and other financial institutions can use digital identity under existing anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing requirements. Its work will cover digital onboarding, assessment of identity providers, overseas identity frameworks, record keeping and ongoing identity management.
Global
Okta has made Agent SSO generally available, allowing AI agents supporting the Cross App Access standard to be registered as identities within its Universal Directory rather than treated as conventional service accounts.
The system replaces stored credentials with short-lived, identity-governed tokens and is intended to give organisations greater visibility and control over the access granted to AI agents. At its centre is Cross App Access, an OAuth-based standard that has been incorporated as the Enterprise-Managed Authorization extension for Model Context Protocol.
Greece
A new report has called for Greece to introduce remote digital identity verification to make government and consular services more accessible to citizens living overseas.
The Deon Policy Institute report proposes adding automated electronic identity verification alongside existing video-call and in-person channels. Its proposed system would use an NFC-enabled passport or Greek electronic identity card and a liveness-checked facial capture, comparing the user against the photograph stored on their document. It would use one-to-one biometric matching rather than creating a biometric database.
Initial applications proposed by the report include remotely obtaining a tax identification number, certifying contact information and completing certain notarial procedures such as powers of attorney.
Global
SailPoint has expanded its partnership with CrowdStrike by integrating its SecOps Identity Intelligence into CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM.
The integration brings SailPoint identity governance, access and risk information covering human and non-human identities into Falcon, where it can be analysed alongside endpoint, cloud, threat intelligence and other security telemetry. The companies say this will give security operations teams additional identity context during investigations without requiring analysts to move between separate tools.
Madagascar
Madagascar is strengthening the cybersecurity framework surrounding its expanding national digital identity programme, with two cybercrime-related bills submitted to parliament.
The proposals would modernise the country’s cybercrime framework and authorise ratification of the UN Convention against Cybercrime. They also propose a Digital Protection and Investigation Unit to strengthen the detection and investigation of cyber threats.
The measures come as Madagascar scales its biometric identity programme. Authorities said more than six million people had enrolled by June, against an eventual target of 12 million. The programme forms part of the World Bank-funded Digital Governance and Identification Management System Project, or PRODIGY.
Saudi Arabia
Hopae and Technology Control Company have agreed to introduce a digital identity verification platform capable of recognising overseas government-issued identities and wallets to organisations in Saudi Arabia.
Hopae Connect links more than 70 government-issued electronic IDs and digital identity wallets through a single API, allowing Saudi organisations to verify people using trusted identities issued in their home countries rather than relying solely on document checks.
The partnership also includes training, workshops and development of Saudi-specific use cases, with TCC providing access to its existing government and enterprise customer network.
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said the country’s Fayda national digital identity system has the potential to increase GDP by seven percent as the government expands adoption of the programme.
Almost 50 million people have registered with Fayda since its rollout in 2023, according to the supplied report, while the system has been integrated with more than 150 public and private institutions. Ethiopia is targeting 115 million registered users by the 2027-28 financial year.
North America
The FBI is reportedly investigating a data breach that may have exposed identity documents belonging to as many as 170 million people across North America.
According to the supplied report, a service called Nexus allegedly offered access to digital scans including more than 153 million driving licences, primarily belonging to people in the US and Canada, as well as other identity and medical cards. The data has been linked to identity verification provider IDScan.net, which is investigating the matter.
