Mobile IDs: Convenience, Simplicity, Ease of Use - But what about Security & Privacy?
If you are currently active on social media or reading the industry news, you’ve perhaps heard about the emergence of mobile IDs, seen as a handy complement to someone’s physical ID. This evolution should be of no surprise as smartphones have become pervasive, often being used for a myriad of applications ranging from email
to personal banking to paying for your coffee. Now, new innovations in secure mobile technologies have made it possible to issue and verify secure identification — quickly, safely and remotely.
Leaving your wallet or purse at home and heading out with just your smartphone is an appealing convenience for many of us. However, this transition to mobile identity raises some very important issues for citizens, specifically regarding security and privacy. While convenience, simplicity and ease-of-use are key considerations for using a mobile device, the issues of protecting your personal data — your online identity — is paramount when it comes to the use of a mobile ID.
Now, in the case of security, I am specifically referring to how to protect your personal, self-identifying data, such as your driver’s license number, your home address, etc. In this case, HID Global uses a strong, standards-based cryptography platform to specifically protect that data, allowing it to only be viewed by the intended, authenticating smartphone and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks.
Extending it further, use of a mobile ID has the capacity to ensure your personal safety as well. Let’s use the example of a routine traffic stop. In this instance, from a law enforcement officer’s perspective, it all starts with “Who is this citizen whom I am approaching?” A mobile ID enables the secure retrieval of real-time accident, crime or insurance information — without an officer or a citizen ever having to get out of their car. This not only ensures both the safety of the officer and the citizen, it may also indicate the future of improved police-citizen interactions.
This level of security is only possible with new technologies such our HID goID™ platform which allows the secure provisioning of mobile IDs directly on to citizens’ mobile phones. Unlike other solutions that rely on wireless cloud connectivity, HID goID™ is always available, no matter the connectivity to the cloud. This is extremely important in the case of national and public security, where identity needs to be securely verified — regardless of the status of the cellular connectivity. Law enforcement must be able to count on receiving the information it needs from the mobile ID.
Privacy regarding mobile IDs is another area of concern that has relied upon the advent of new technologies for a solution. While security is sort of an obvious criteria when it comes to mobile IDs, the issue of privacy often doesn’t come up until you are ready to use a mobile ID yourself. For this reason there are two big issues suppliers must address related to the principle of privacy and mobile IDs:
1. We must ensure no one else can have access to your personal data or track your identity and similarly, you shouldn’t have to share any more personal data than absolutely necessary.
2. Authenticating parties must be able to verify data without you handing over the physical smartphone.
Think about it: in these contexts, mobile IDs are actually very secure and private. And with new mobile ID platforms such as HID goID™, no information that might be used to identify or track the credential holder can be read by an unauthorized party. In fact, it is impossible to even discover the existence of a mobile ID on a smartphone.
I am excited about these emerging technologies allowing the reality of mobile IDs and changing the way citizens, governments, law enforcement and businesses interact. To learn more about these technologies and how they can help secure your identity and protect your privacy, consider watching our webinar, Government-to-Citizen IDs Go Mobile. You can register for it here.