Over the past two years, businesses of all sizes across many industries have experienced the demand for rapid digital transformation. At the same time, our collective increased reliance on digital networks created an open season for cybercriminal opportunists to breach corporate accounts and seize sensitive personal data. Today, despite heightened attention on cybersecurity measures and infrastructure by IT teams, cyberattacks remain ubiquitous and are only becoming more sophisticated. Properly securing and managing the digital identities of employees and customers is paramount to risk management and achieving true digital transformation, regardless of a company’s size or market cap.
At authID, we are driven by our mission to protect enterprises and digital identities from fraud, and we know educating leaders about cybersecurity best practices is the place to start. That’s why, on Identity Management Day 2022, we are taking a step back to explain the concept of a “digital identity”, why it matters, and how authID protects digital identity in all corners of our digital world. At the same time, we would like to underscore our commitment to continue enabling our customers and partners — and by extension their customers and their employees— for success in this vein. “We are digital identity” is authID’s official mantra as we help our customers and partners secure digital identity and build trust in the new economy.
But First, What is Digital Identity?
A digital identity is the sum of all available information that exists online related to an individual, organization, or device. For people, this often largely comprises personally identifiable information (PII). Elements of a digital identity include login credentials, online bank accounts, biometric data, social media activity, purchasing behaviors, and countless others. Digital identity is the composite of all unique data that can be linked back to an entity to prove that an identity is what it says it is.
Because that data often includes valuable, sensitive information, an entity or person must be able to securely verify themselves in a digital world, where in-person verification is either unavailable or inconvenient. But digital identities also naturally pose a lucrative opportunity to cybercriminals.
Why is Digital Identity Important?
Ensuring trust is the predominant factor in the new, digital ecosystem. Without digital trust, organizations have no way of validating a person’s identity and individuals have no way of knowing if an online tool or platform is safe and legitimate.
Establishing that trusted digital identity on day one is critical to building trust in an online world. Digital identity can now be seamlessly verified during online account opening through various forms of personal information verification, identity document validation, and even biometric proofing of a person’s selfie to an identity document.
However, even more important to protecting our data and platforms from cyber incidents is to extend that identity trust across every phase of the digital lifecycle. In other words, knowing who is accessing an account, who is making a purchase, or who is requesting a funds transfer is critical. And yet these questions can no longer be satisfied with legacy and vulnerable identity verification methods such as passwords and knowledge-based and two-factor authentication methods.
Because digital identities consist of unique identifiers, they enable seamless use of biometric authentication – by far the most secure and accurate way to verify an identity and to know the ’who’ behind every transaction. Biometric authentication better protects digital identities from ruthless cybercriminals looking for ways to take over accounts and steal identities through phishing, smishing, and other social engineering attacks.
What Now?
Even as lockdowns loosen and we connect with our corporate teammates, customers, and loved ones in person, digital business and digital identities will remain. Biometric verification is the optimal way to provide businesses and their users with a more secure and convenient way to access and verify digital identities. authID is digital identity – for your customers, your workforce, and your partners.