It has been another eventful week in the world of digital and mobile identity, with new developments showcasing the ongoing ascent of state-led mobile ID programs, as well as the growing reliance on mobile technology for strong identity verification and consumer authentication.
California Joins the Mobile ID Race
As far as mobile ID per se is concerned, California brought some big news after last week’s launch of Google’s mobile ID in Maryland. Officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles are actively planning a pilot. Ajay Gupta, the DMV’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer, revealed that the pilot could start in late summer, and that a vendor that has partnered with his agency is currently working with convenience stores on the installation of digital ID scanners. Gupta also said that Californians will be able to use the digital ID at certain airports.
The news comes after a Los Angeles Times report from May of last year indicating that state legislators had given the DMV authorization to trial mobile IDs. But further legislative permission will be need to expand beyond a pilot: For now, Gupta says the DMV has authorization to pilot a digital ID with a base of 170,000 end users.
New Authentication Solutions Leverage Mobile Tech
Meanwhile, mobile technology plays an important role in two newly announced authentication solutions.
Censo, a FinTech startup, announced a new digital key management solution for the enterprise that offers decentralized key management without relying on the conventional Multi-Party Computation model of cryptography. Instead, the solution relies on blockchain-based smart contracts as well as the sophisticated authentication mechanisms offered by today’s smartphones.
“Censo leverages the secure hardware enclaves present in today’s mobile devices together with their biometric gating to tightly bind cryptographic keys to an organization’s users’ nuanced real-world roles,” explained Brett Falk, a research assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, TripleBlind, a Kansas City-based startup, launched an authentication software solution called SecuriKey. Aimed at the financial services sector, it’s designed to store secret keys across multiple devices in a user’s possession, requiring more than one for authentication — rendering each individual key useless on its own. The solution also leverages the biometric authentication capabilities found on most mobile devices.
Selfie Onboarding Fights ‘Smurfing’
The week also brought another development in the ongoing ascent of selfie-based identity verification, this time from the world of e-sports: Daon is providing biometric identity verification technology to ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) to help the latter prevent fraud on its platform.
The aim is to stop fraudsters from doing things like “smurfing”, in which they disguise their identities in order to face lower-ranked opponents — a way of racking up easy wins. With Daon’s onboarding solution in place, EFG customers will have the option of either fully verifying their identity by uploading a selfie and identity document (with facial recognition used to match them), or simply confirming their face with a selfie, enabling biometric authentication at each subsequent login.
There’s surely plenty more to come as mobile tech continues to play a central role in new digital identity solutions, so stay tuned to Mobile ID World for all the latest.
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June 16, 2023 – by Alex Perala
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