Most of us already use our mobile devices as a convenient means of identifying ourselves digitally. In the same way, the ubiquitous smartphone is a popular tool for proving "We are who we claim to be" or the process better known as authentication. We use authentication in daily tasks like Digital Banking, network-based services, and websites.
In addition, we see a move towards mobile entitlements on our handsets including airline/movie/bus/train tickets to doctor/visa/government appointments to proof of our Covid-19 vaccination status. This is a dramatic shift away from cumbersome, tedious, and insecure paper-based techniques to a constantly evolving digital environment that delivers ease of access and promises to protect sensitive data with advanced security features.
What is Digital Identity?
In the digital world, a digital identity includes digital credentials and attributes validated digitally - the next generation of mobile identification, creating a secure, mobile-device-based home for all the user's digital identity credentials. It has never been simpler to authenticate our identity or access privileges to which we are entitled – both on the web and in the real world. Additionally, Digital Identity offers convenience as well as complete control over citizens' data, with the freedom to choose exactly what information to share, with whom, and when. Simultaneously, it furnishes authorities with an opportunity to create companions for physical documents that are effortless to manage, issue, and verify. Enterprises are implementing immutable security in place to fight identity frauds, protect sensitive information, boost efficiency, and reduce red tapes.
Wallet-Based Approach:
In 2022 companies like Apple and the government involvements (EU, India) have given a push to R&D of Digital Identity frameworks. The frameworks that are developed or in development are Apple’s Digital Identity Scheme, EU’s initiatives such as eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication, and trust Services), and India’s digital document wallet – DigiLocker.
Digital identity demand surges in the form of these mobile wallets such as mobile driving licenses and travel pass use cases.
- Apple’s Digital Identity Wallet is enabling Apple customers to add Driver’s License or State ID conveniently and securely to their wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is also in the process of authorizing selected airport security checkpoints in participating air terminals as primary locations where customers can present
- European Digital Identity Wallet, a European Commission Project, is planning to develop a unified digital identification system for Europe. EU residents will be able to save their Digital IDs including medical records, college degree titles, bank card details, and other identifying documents in the application that will be made available to be used in any of the European member states.
- India's DigiLocker Wallet focuses on the 'Digital Empowerment' of the Indian residents by giving them access to authentic digital documents in their digital document wallet. DigiLocker is a secure document platform like a Payment Gateway between an issuer and a requester/verifier. Advantages of such a service include-
- Authentic Documents, Legally at Par with Originals.
- Exchange of Digital Documents with the consent of the citizens.
- Quicker service delivery of employment, financial inclusion, education, health, and other government benefits.
- Instigating paperless administration, thus reducing the administrative overheads by limiting the utilization of paper and speeding up the verification process.
- Issued documents are fetched directly from the issuing agency in real-time.
- The Verification module enables the government agencies to verify the data directly from the issuer after receiving the user's consent.
Standardization of Digital Identification and Market Growth
Digital identity is certainly a technology that can be used to fight fraud with the standardization process, meaning that the fraudulent tactics will become ever-increasingly more difficult to commit frauds given the standardized nature of these new frameworks.
A Thales survey across 11 countries in 2018 found that 70% of citizens would like their identity documents on their smartphone, on the crucial proviso that the app was adequately secured.
As anyone might expect, the market is encountering a rapid expansion, with the report from Market Insight distributed in January 2020 anticipating a 24% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) for Mobile ID initiatives around the world, fuelled by the digitalization of identities as well as driving licenses and healthcare documents.
Juniper Research’s forecast on the Global Digital Identity Revenue from digital identity services says that the number will exceed 30 billion dollars this year i.e., 2022, and rise to 50 billion dollars by 2026.
Digital ID Wallets also enable direct and secure communication between government agencies to any citizen with a smartphone. Consequently, citizens can benefit from timely reminders on vaccinations, receive details on how to participate in forthcoming elections, and be issued efficiently with driving penalties, endorsements, and receive payments of eligible subsidies or grants given by the governments. Such methodology adds a new aspect to G2C (government-to-citizen) engagements, making them undeniably more personal, and bringing the government and residents closer together.
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