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With the looming spectre of increasingly sophisticated AI threats, identity fraud and identity theft present an increasing complication for many industries around the world.
The healthcare, government and automotive sectors are particularly focused on identity verification, with access to patient data, sensitive government information, mechanical qualifications and digital keys all requiring a robust authentication framework.
Digidentity works with customers across these industries, and more, with a mandate of providing resilient identity services, as well as instilling trust more broadly, also offering digital signature and secure document services.
Adoption of digital identity wallets, which utilise cryptographically verifiable identity credentials that can be used selectively when the holder's credentials are requested, has been on the rise in recent years.
These wallets are becoming standard in Europe, with rollouts happening continually around the globe.
While Australians are not yet able to utilise this technology for storing their passport while jet-setting, many states allow citizens to access driving licences digitally, removing the need for carrying and risking losing a physical copy.
"What's really, certainly in Europe, changing a lot in the whole industry is the introduction of digital identity wallet," said Fred Slikker, Managing Director at Digidentity.
"That's really changing our industry, and it's creating a lot of great opportunities for companies like Digidentity."
The COVID-19 pandemic was an inflection point for identity services, leading to a significant increase in remote work around the globe, as well as a considerable rise in virtual hiring and onboarding processes.
It was an uncertain time for many organisations, but especially in healthcare, which continually faces staff shortages in different regions.
In hindsight, the pandemic was a precursor to trends that are currently being seen in the new remote working landscape, as well as the tightly regulated financial sector. Under this new paradigm, companies worldwide are more reliant on identity services than ever.
"COVID accelerated some digital trends," Slikker said.
"Remote working, remote onboarding, and digital interactions in general have increased tenfold since the COVID pandemic."
"And that trend will only continue. I think what's changing is now that you can open a bank account remotely. When these sort of high-trust transactions are no longer done face-to-face, but remotely, you obviously need to rely on trust an awful lot more."
So identity verification becomes a lot more important.
"The developments in AI have meant that while we are moving online with all of our transactions and we're becoming more and more digital, the risk of fraud is also increasing exponentially."
"You've seen some very big examples of that in the Australian market. It can be fraud-related. It can be hacking. There's obviously a lot of risk associated with working remotely."
While Australia has been making progress in the identity sector, with robust compliance standards, and more partnerships between public and private organisations, the focus is still generally on individual citizens.
There is also a growing requirement for updated legal and regulatory frameworks for businesses.
Access to data in an organisational context, and linking it with access to specific authorisations, is a key question for the industry going forward.
"There's a huge opportunity and also a challenge for organisations to be able to mandate their employees or their representatives so they can act on behalf of that company when interacting with other companies or with government," Slikker said.
"Organisational identity in the government sphere is a big challenge."
In the automotive industry, lack of strong authentication systems can present significant physical risks.
While the Elon Musk-led Tesla was the pioneer in digital vehicle keys, many car manufacturers have adopted this technology, including BMW, Audi and Hyundai.
With innovation comes convenience, but also more opportunities for bad actors to hack sensitive data.
"In automotive, having access to very specific data can, in the wrong hands, lead to significant health and safety risks, but there's also the risk of theft, if you're able to access the anti-theft systems and disable a vehicle's anti-theft systems.
"If you can program a key, for instance, then you're obviously at risk of theft in the most physical sense of the word.
"Whether you're a mechanic working on complex vehicles like electric vehicles or whether you are a doctor performing surgery or other medical procedures, the same thing applies.
"You need access to very sensitive data, and you need to be able to show your qualifications so that you are authorised to do the right things. The combination of digital identity, qualifications and verifiable credentials tied to an individual is likely to be a key driver in those sectors."