In today's consumer orientated world, digital identity has become, and will continue to be an indispensable tool as it is now one of the primary ways that people identify themselves online. Today we will discuss what the future of digital identity and identity verification will look like in the remainder of 2020 and beyond.
Your digital identity is made up of multiple pieces of digital information that create an image of who you are - it is like a puzzle that when assembled it's many parts, create one completed picture.
Increase in Deep fakes will complicate identity fraud.
Deep fakes are artificial images or videos that take a person's face and replace it with another person's likeness. The use of these images makes it more challenging to accurately verify identities, and they create opportunities for fraudsters to exploit this technology to commit identity theft.
Many companies use images, i.e. the likeness of their customers (biometrics) as a way of verifying their identities. Deep fakes can make people appear in pictures or videos by transferring the body or facial movement of one person onto a static image of another. In this way, fraudsters try to trick eIDV systems by mimicking the likeness of someone else.
Similarly, synthetic identities - the combination of fake and real data to create a new identity- will continue to facilitate new opportunities for criminals to exploit technology to perform identity fraud.
However, not all is lost- even though criminals can use these techniques to imitate someone else's likeness, it is still tricky to impersonate voices without noticeable imperfections digitally. To successfully mimic a voice and render deepfake video and audio in real-time fraudsters require large volumes of computing resources. Additionally, they need high-quality audio and video source material to be able to teach machine learning algorithms on how to do this.
Therefore, by utilising robust biometric screening that combines passive and physical biometric signals, companies can effectively identify the customer's ids without their systems getting tricked by deep fakes and image spoofing.
Robust Security Measures the Response to Increased Threats
Since 2018 we have seen two of the most significant data breaches take place since the creation of digital technology. Just last year, Facebook had 540,000,000 records leaked due to inadequate security making it the second-largest data breach to have ever occurred with First American Corporation a financial service company taking the second place with 885,000,000 records leaked.
Data leaks are a profoundly serious matter because they contain personal information that can be used to identify the people using these services, and criminals can exploit this data to commit fraud.
These incidents and many others have caused consumers and governments to (a) become more aware and (b) begin to question how companies misuse (and protect) their data for their benefit and gain. Because of this, there has been an increase in the demand for companies to improve their security measures to protect consumer’s data better while also giving them more control over its use.
That is why from 2018-2020 we've seen and will continue to see measures taken to bolster security and combat fraud, taken more seriously by companies. Companies can no longer remain indifferent or relaxed when it comes to protecting their consumer's data.
If they want to maintain positive and have long-lasting relationships with their customers whilst remaining compliant with financial regulations (most recent being the GDPR and The California Consumer Privacy Act) robust security measures are the only solution going forward.
Biometrics continues to dominate as a security measure.
With the increase of threats in cybersecurity and identity theft in 2020 and beyond, we will continue to see biometrics as a secondary way of verifying identity. Many companies are already using physiological and behavioural biometrics as secondary evidence of one’s identity.
Today’s consumer is already accustomed to using face and fingerprint recognition (physiological biometrics) and signature and voice recognition (behavioural) as a security measure. It is predicted that the "global biometrics market will grow to US$55.5 billion by 2025 from its projected 2020 value of US$35.5 billion.”
Here we discuss the reasons why biometrics have and will continue to grow as a security measure:
- You use something that is always in your possession.
- It allows you to use a method that requires an almost non-existent learning curve- ex. everyone knows how to sign their name
- It relies on you, whereas the more traditional passwords can be forgotten or hacked.
- Most importantly, it provides irrefutable evidence of the link between the identification method and its owner.
Consumers Will Continue to Demand Power Over Their PII
As we mentioned above the increase in data breaches in the last few years has consumers wanting to gain more control over their Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Especially since now, consumer's biometric data is now at risk as it has now become a standardised method of identity verification.
For 2020 and the years to come we will see companies begin to give back their control over private data by investing in technologies that focus on protecting sovereign identity by giving consumers ownership over who and where they share their data.
One possible solution that businesses can focus on is investing in blockchain technologies. Blockchain allows the storage of sensitive information in a decentralised location that is exceedingly difficult for hackers to gain access to its contents.
Blockchain networks are also an excellent way to empower consumers to become the gatekeepers of their information by removing the practice of having to share their data separately with each financial entity at every transaction. With blockchain, the user has full control over their digital identity- they have the power to give consent to which third-parties can access their data.
Conclusion
The trends above are just a few of the changes we can expect to see over the next few years in the world of digital id and identity verification. If you are interested in learning more about identity verification please give us a call on 25 346 630. Alternatively, you can read about a variety of related subjects by visiting our newsroom.