Even with the COVID-19 pandemic grinding much of the global economy to a halt, it has been a busy week in the world of digital identity. Indeed, in some cases, the pandemic might even be accelerating activity in this space, as some of this week’s top stories from Mobile ID World suggests.

One of the most popular articles among Mobile ID World readers this week concerned a new Mastercard survey that found that the COVID-19 was helping to drive further adoption of contactless payment technology:

Mastercard Survey Finds COVID-19 is Accelerating Contactless Payments

Since no PIN needs to be entered with contactless payments, these technologies require sophisticated authentication, whether it’s in the form of a selfie scan for a mobile payments platform like Apple Pay, or a fingerprint scan on a biometric payment card. So the trend is in line with IDEX’s busy Q1 as the fingerprint sensor specialist has raced to meet demand for tech to be used in payment applications:

IDEX Ramps Up Production to Meet Biometric Tech Orders

Meanwhile, in the more traditional digital identity space, a major online gaming company implemented mandatory 2FA security for users who want to a free game from the Epic Games Store during the COVID-19 lockdown – a move that may reflect a growing awareness of the issue of digital security in the age of remote work (and play):

Epic Games Implements Mandatory 2FA for Free Games in Online Store

Likewise, it’s quite possible that this growing awareness helped to drum up investor interest in passwordless authentication specialist Secret Double Octopus, which just raised $15 million in a Series B funding round:

Secret Double Octopus Lands $15 Million in Series B Funding

Finally, in a government project that has nothing to do with COVID-19, but may nevertheless help to facilitate the kind of remote e-services that could mitigate viral transmission, Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency recently announced that it’s planning to roll out a biometric authentication system for the beta version of its myGovID program later this year:

Get Ready for Australia’s Biometric Online ID Beta Test

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Stay posted to Mobile ID World next week as we continue to bring you the latest news and interviews from the exciting world of digital identity. To see the hottest stories of the week in biometrics, visit our sibling site FindBiometrics.