Digital identity wallets have the power to revolutionise the way that consumers share personal information but are people ready to embrace and manage identity using such digital tools?
In the last year, millions of UK consumers have in fact taken their first steps in managing their identity digitally via the NHS app which we all rely on to manage details about our Covid test results proof of vaccines and as such our ability to travel. In essence, the NHS App is also acting as a digital identity wallet – it is uniquely linked to a person through their identity and stores identity attributes such as identity information, NHS number, Covid-19 status and vaccination status.
In the very near future other important use cases will open up for digital identity technology. Ultimately, building trust between businesses and consumers and between public sector organisations and citizens is crucial and this is the key objective of the UK government’s digital identity and attributes trust framework (DIATF). Whilst still in draft form, the DIATF sets out benchmark standards for identity assurance for use across a spectrum of services. It creates accountability for the platforms that provide identity verification services adhere to these robust standards under a scrupulous certification regime.
Legislation will be enacted in April to permit reliance upon digital identity as a key part of performing Right to Work and Right to Rent checks on individuals as initial use cases. The criminal record checking process, known as DBS, has also now published its guidance on how digital identity wallets serve this use case.
Another use case where much progress has been made with digital identity is in the house buying journey where estate agents, lenders and two sets of conveyancing lawyers all have to verify the identity of the house buyer and seller. A re-usable digital identity wallet is a much better process for the consumer and the four regulated parties than for ID documents and personal details to be emailed back and forth…
Another legislative update scheduled for later in 2022 is the Online Safety Bill, which is set to go where the Digital Economy Act failed and require age verification controls for all websites offering pornographic content. Whilst no one will dispute that children must be better protected from the dangers of being able to access online pornography, critics of the proposal warn that age verification may pose cybersecurity risks where there is a transfer of personal data from one party to another.
Digital identity wallets, which are built on the foundation of privacy, in fact offer the perfect tool for zero-knowledge based age verification. Although a person’s identity is verified from government documents and the wallet will indeed securely encrypt hold this information, only the information which is specifically required to be presented actually needs to be shared. So, for example, a person doesn’t need to share their name and date of birth (information which can be readily gleaned from a passport) to prove their age, instead a digital identity wallet confirms that they are over the age of 18. Confirmation that they are over the age of 18 is a derived identity attribute and this is all that is required to be shared in order to verify someone’s age, not share their date of birth, address or other personal information.
Last year, we launched the HooYu ID wallet app, which stores the user’s personal data on the mobile device through secure private key encryption. We believe that storing the identity on the device is a safer principle for the user than using third-party cloud services which the user does not have control over. All the user has to do is download the wallet app and verify their identity once which means they do not need to do this time and time over.
We believe that the DIATF will effectively permit a wallet user to share their identity for many different use cases, i.e., products and services, without the need to use multiple wallets. This is because the DIATF seeks to achieve consistent identity verification standards and sharing protocols, whether that be for proving your age online, performing a DBS check or opening a bank account. This will in turn reduce friction for the user on every occasion that they assert their identity online. Importantly, in turn this should bring down the cost and administrative burden for businesses of requiring identity checks on their customers.
Lastly, whilst the use cases are compelling, how are consumers disposed towards using a digital identity wallet? Last year we conducted a major piece of research to investigate consumer readiness for digital identity – which you can read here.
2022 is set to be a catalyst year for digital identity in the UK and abroad. Through digital identity the online world can become a more secure, private, and convenient place. And let’s also hope a much safer place for our children.
If you want to learn more about HooYu ID, you can watch some of our explainer videos here.
