The World of Digital Identity – Everything You Should Know
What is Digital Identity?
A digital identity is an online or networked likeness that an individual, organization, or electronic device adopts or claims in cyberspace. Through several communities, users can project more than one digital persona. However, security and privacy are major concerns when it comes to digital identity management.
Digital identity might sound complicated, but it’s actually rather simple. Any personal data that can be traced back to the real you constitutes your digital identity. For example, images you’ve shared on social media, posts you’ve written or commented on, your online bank account, search engine history, and yes, your Steam account if you’re a gamer.
This is typically issued by a national ID authority for the digital world and contains a set of certified digital attributes such as a unique identity number, social security number, name, location, date of birth, citizenship, and biometrics. It can also take the form of credentials such as a unique ID number, a mobile ID, or an eID card, that help authenticate your identity. One or more digital identifiers, such as an email address, URL, or domain name, are connected to your digital identity. The authentication and validation procedures are crucial to ensuring Web and network infrastructure security in the public and private sectors, given the prevalence of identity theft on the internet.
What is Digital Identity Verification?
Digital identity verification involves ensuring that a person’s identity matches the one they claim to have. The attribute of identity is the correspondence of one object to another when compared with each other. It is a set of distinct traits and features of an individual which are unique and irreplaceable.
It is critically important when dealing with people, especially in the internet world where identity theft is far more prevalent than we may realize. Almost all processes and procedures, both online and offline, require identity verification in a variety of situations ranging from opening a bank account to electronically completing tax documents.
How Does the Digital Identity Verification Process Work?
Digital identity verification works by comparing a readily available proof of identity proof (e.g., a facial biometric or an ID document) to a confirmed data set (e.g., government-issued credential, such as a passport, or a biometric stored on a user’s registered mobile phone). The purpose is to verify that a person is who they say they are.
A variety of identity verification methods help verify a person’s identity, and each works in a distinct manner. Let’s take a look at each of these methods:
1. ID Document Verification:
Verifies the legitimacy of an ID document (such as a driver’s license, passport, or government ID)
2. Biometric Verification:
Selfies are used in biometric verification to ensure that the person presenting the ID is the same person whose portrait appears on the ID
3. Liveness Detection:
Detects spoofing attacks such as face masks or doctored images to determine whether a selfie is genuine
4. Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA):
A type of authentication that relies on the user’s knowledge, such as from the applicant’s credit file to generate “out of wallet” questions
5. OTP Verification:
During the verification procedure, the applicant receives a one-time passcode through SMS or email
6. Database Methods:
Uses information from social media, offline databases, and other sources to verify the applicant’s information
Digital Identity Use Cases
Due to the advanced methods used by fraudsters for nefarious actions, not a single industry is secure these days. Every industry needs digital identity verification checks, but the ones that require it the most are:
1. Online Gaming
Given the significant increase in e-gaming market revenue, this sector is more prone to criminal activities. Malicious users can be kept at bay with identity verification services. They can save gaming companies a lot of money by avoiding costly lawsuits and data theft.
Aside from the monetary considerations, safe identity verification is critical for fostering trust in the gaming community. Verified profiles not only aid in the identification of rogue actors, but they also enhance the overall online gaming experience.
2. Financial Services
Banks, crowdfunding platforms, insurance firms, and virtual payment systems are all working hard to make customer transactions as simple as possible. However, illegal activity has become a major issue.
Digital ID can alleviate systemic issues by reducing some of the barriers to participation in the digital economy for individuals with restricted access. To begin, a legally recognized, unique digital identity can be used in place of physical documents. You can leverage technology to meet regulatory goals such as validating proof of address using GPS. This process will enable an individual to meet the KYC standards for opening a transaction account, which will open up a world of financial possibilities.
3. Travel and Tourism
Fake travel agencies, fabricated identities used to escape, and a variety of other activities make it difficult for the travel industry to adhere to KYC standards. Fraudulent activities in the travel industry cost it almost $21 billion USD annually.
Face and other forms of identity verification can assist the travel sector in adhering to the rules while aiding in preventing fraudsters from fleeing with all of their activities.
Digital Identity Importance in Today’s World
A common, comprehensive digital identity promises several key benefits for corporations, agencies, and individuals, :
1. A Streamlined Process:
Users are continuously asked to remember or update an increasing number of usernames and passwords to the point that it has become a point of conflict between users and organizations. This stumbling block can be removed with a single, trustworthy digital identity.
2. Increased Access:
More people, records, and services may be accessed digitally and remotely. Access to services can also transcend borders if digital identities are constructed to fulfil requirements in various nations, easing international trade and travel.
3. Better Focus of Users’ Needs:
Companies are able to achieve more targeted advertising and seamless omnichannel marketing that maps more precisely to an individual’s real-life identity.
4. Enhanced Security:
Identity theft occurs when personal information, PINs, or answers to security questions are compromised, and the consequences for victims are increasingly severe. By removing the need for such easily-comprisable authentication processes, a robust digital identification scheme can limit vulnerability to this risk.
How to Protect Your Digital Identity
The internet today has more impact on our lives than it had a decade ago. Some of it is positive, while others are negative. But our digital lifestyles play a bigger role in negatively impacting our lives. Because of how we behave in the digital world, we expose ourselves to threats such as identity theft and data breaches. It’s important to act consciously online and keep your data safe. How? Here are top 5 ways to protect your digital identity.
1. Take Care of Your Social Security Number
You should think about a few things to aid safeguard your Social Security number. It’s a good idea to keep your Social Security card in a safe place at home. Before disclosing your Social Security number, you should inquire as to why it is required. For example, It may not be essential to provide your child’s Social Security number while registering for the school year or enrolling in after-school programs.
2. Use an Encrypted Connection
Only share personal information on websites that implement encryption to protect online transactions. You can check the status bar of your browser to see if the website you are using is encrypted or not. A “lock” sign indicates that your data may be transmitted safely; however, when using public wireless (Wi-Fi) networks, be cautious. Anyone can see what data you send and receive on these unprotected networks (unless you are visiting an encrypted website). Secure networks should be used for personal financial operations such as checking a bank account balance.
3. Set Up External Drive for Data Storage
Backing up your computer data to an external hard drive is a good idea. Printing off your most crucial papers, such as bank records and family photos, is another option. You’ll have tangible copies of your digital data in case they are compromised. Make sure the hard disc or duplicates are kept in a fireproof safe or safety deposit box.
4. Choose Stronger Passwords
How often do you change your email password? How often do you avoid using the same password on different websites? Do you use upper and lower case letters, symbols, numbers, or a combination of all four in your passwords?
While these tasks may appear to be inconvenient, they are critical. Hackers can use software to guess your password, getting access to personal information such as your address, birthday, phone number, or credit card numbers in the process. Hackers may be deterred if you change your passwords frequently and make them difficult to guess. You should come up with a phrase or term and then replace the ?s with numbers and symbols.
5. Use Social Media Carefully
Identity thieves may use social networking platforms as an entry point. As a result, you should refrain from oversharing on social media. Make sure your profiles don’t include any personally identifying information (PII), such as your full name, birthday, or account number. The less information about you that is publicly available online, the safer your identity.
Choose the Right Digital Identity Platform
Imageware’s Digital Identity Platform is a comprehensive set of turnkey applications and sophisticated platform services that support the whole digital identity lifecycle. Identity creation, onboarding, proofing, identity authentication, and user identification are all part of this process.
The platform enables full digital identity management for federated identity management ecosystem solutions, with comprehensive capabilities such as reconciliation, duplication checks, and comprehensive offboarding.
For detailed information visit here.