A digital identity wallet is a secure and convenient way to store and manage your personal data online. It's like a digital version of your physical wallet, but instead of cash and cards, it holds your sensitive information.
This type of wallet is designed to protect your identity and prevent data breaches. It uses advanced encryption and security protocols to safeguard your information.
Having a digital identity wallet can save you time and effort when filling out forms or applying for services online. You can simply share your verified identity with trusted parties, eliminating the need for repeated paperwork.
By storing your identity in a digital wallet, you can also keep track of your online presence and monitor any suspicious activity.
What Is a Digital Identity Wallet?
A Digital Identity Wallet is essentially a digital version of your ID, stored securely on your smartphone. This allows you to access your identification documents digitally, making it more convenient and secure.
You can store various identification documents, such as your driver's license, passport, and health insurance card, all in one place. This makes it easier to carry around and access your important documents.
Storing your ID digitally on your smartphone is an ID revolution that's already happening.
Features and Functionality
A digital identity wallet is a secure and convenient way to store and manage your personal identity information. This type of wallet is designed to provide a single, unified platform for accessing various identity-related services and documents.
With a digital identity wallet, you can store a range of identity documents, including driver's licenses, passports, and health insurance cards. These documents are typically stored in a secure, encrypted environment to protect against unauthorized access.
Digital identity wallets often come with advanced security features, such as biometric authentication and multi-factor authentication, to ensure that only you can access your identity information.
How It Works
Digital Identity Wallets are designed to keep your data safe and secure, while still being user-friendly and convenient. This is achieved through the use of verifiable credentials, which are digital documents that can verify your identity and other key information about you.
Decentralized identifiers, or DIDs, are another key piece of technology that enables Digital ID Wallets. A DID is a unique digital identifier that distinguishes you from other online users, often consisting of a combination of letters and numbers.
Here's a breakdown of the main pieces of technology that enable Digital ID Wallets:
- Verifiable credentials: digital documents that can verify your identity and other key information about you
- Decentralized identifiers (DIDs): a unique digital identifier that distinguishes you from other online users
These innovations work together to provide advanced data sharing controls, allowing you to control who can access your data and when. This means you can revoke access at any time, giving you peace of mind.
Integrating Physical and Credentials
Integrating physical and digital credentials is a crucial aspect of modern life. We've long relied on physical credentials like ID cards, health cards, and driving licences to prove our identity.
In the past, these physical credentials were the norm, but now we have the option to digitize them. The Digital ID Wallet represents a reliable all-in-one identity gateway that puts citizens in full control of their data.
This innovative solution establishes a trusted environment where citizens and document issuers can interact seamlessly. It's a missing piece in the jigsaw that enables user-focused ID initiatives to reach their full potential.
Protecting Privacy and Security
Digital identity wallets offer a convenient way to store and prove your identity, but it's essential to ensure that your personal information remains private and secure.
With digital identity wallets, you're in control of your information - you can share only the required data with the relying party, such as a car rental company or a merchant.
You must authenticate your device with a fingerprint, PIN, or passcode before sharing any ID information, providing an extra layer of security.
Digital identity wallets use end-to-end encryption between the mobile device and the issuing party, ensuring that your data remains encrypted and secure.
Even if you lose your phone, you can remotely wipe any digital ID saved to the wallet, preventing unauthorized access.
Losing a digital ID wallet is not as catastrophic as losing multiple physical credentials, which can be time-consuming and challenging to replace.
In the event of a lost phone, your digital ID wallet can be revoked over the air and in near real-time, making it unusable.
Government and Regulation
Google is working closely with government agencies and regulators to bring digital identity to people everywhere.
The company is building its identity solution around industry standards, such as those from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to ensure consistency and interoperability between devices.
Google Wallet is available for governments looking to integrate with an existing digital wallet, making it easy for people to access their everyday essential items in one place.
By supporting an open ecosystem, Google is enabling user choice and allowing people to select the digital wallet that's best for them, rather than being locked into a walled garden.
This approach also benefits third-party developers, who can build their own identity solution to work on Android thanks to Google's open-source libraries.
Industry and Adoption
Digital identity wallets are becoming more mainstream, with industries working together to make them a convenient and helpful tool for everyday use. Digital IDs can be used for daily activities like driving a car and picking up prescriptions.
Legislation, hardware updates, and behavior change take time, but the industry is working to speed up in-person adoption of digital IDs. This includes collaborating with companies designing hardware for ID acceptance.
Creating new ways for people to get digital IDs is also key to accelerating adoption. Google Wallet now allows users to create a digital ID from a U.S. passport, making it easier for more people to access digital IDs even if their state hasn't launched a solution.
Accelerating Adoption
Digital ID adoption will truly scale when daily use cases like driving a car and picking up prescriptions can be done with a digital ID.
Legislation, hardware updates, and behavior change don't happen overnight, but the industry is working to speed up in-person adoption.
We're working with various parts of the ecosystem, including companies designing hardware for ID acceptance, to make this happen.
Digital IDs can also be used for identity verification online, such as when renting a car from an app or ordering age-restricted items online.
A new type of digital ID in Google Wallet can be created from a U.S. passport, allowing more people to create and save a digital ID even if their state has not yet launched a solution.
Digital IDs are a convenient and helpful tool that also preserve privacy and give people more control over their information.
Here are some ways that digital IDs can be used to accelerate adoption:
- Speed up account opening by reusing existing verified identities
- Improve KYC and fraud protection through richer identities
- Increase efficiency and reduce manual processes by reducing in-person appointments
- Automate data exchange between government agencies
- Digitalize customer check-in and registration
- Speed up processes and reduce manual labor through increased automation
- Automate customer onboarding and speed up driver license verification
- Benefit from a European standard that works for various markets
- Speed up registration for prepaid cards by using existing verified identities
- Improve fraud detection through richer identities
In fact, the Queensland Digital License App demonstrates an impressive mobile/digital penetration rate of over 15%.
Obtaining a Mobile Driver's License
Obtaining a Mobile Driver's License is a relatively straightforward process. You have two options to present your Mobile Driver's License.
One option is to use your smartphone, as it's a convenient way to access your digital ID. You can use your phone to show your Mobile Driver's License to authorities or other parties who require it.
Another option is to use a digital wallet app, which can store your Mobile Driver's License securely and make it easily accessible. This is a great alternative to carrying a physical ID.
In both cases, you can simply present your Mobile Driver's License on your phone or through the digital wallet app, and you're good to go.
Use Cases and Examples
Digital identity wallets are incredibly versatile, and their uses are expanding rapidly. Thales' Digital ID Wallet, for instance, offers a single, secure source for any number of different identity services.
One of the primary uses of digital identity wallets is identity verification, which allows users to securely share their credentials to verify their identity for various customer onboarding processes, KYC procedures with new service providers, age verification, and more.
You can also use digital identity wallets to access government services, such as filing taxes, applying for social benefits, or obtaining official documents, all while maintaining the highest level of security and privacy.
Digital identity wallets make it easy to verify identity and share credentials across online services and platforms, eliminating the need to manage multiple accounts, usernames and passwords, and other details to log into different sites online.
In the financial sector, digital identity wallets can be used to seamlessly and quickly identify a person’s identity to facilitate efficient and secure transactions, such as opening a bank account, securing a loan, making payments, or making online transactions/payments.
International travellers can also use digital identity wallets to simplify and expedite processes at border patrol and customs, making travel much more convenient.
Patients can use digital identity wallets to authenticate themselves and gain secure access to their personal health records, schedule appointments, and more, making healthcare services more accessible and convenient.
Here are some of the current ways that people can use digital identity wallets:
- Identity verification
- Accessing government services
- Online log-ins
- Financial services
- Travel
- Healthcare
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EU digital ID mandatory?
EU member states and European Economic Area states are required to offer a European digital ID wallet to their citizens by May 2024. This does not necessarily mean digital ID use is mandatory, but rather that it will be available as an option.
Sources
- https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/government/identity/digital-identity-services/digital-id-wallet
- https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/samsung-wallet/digital-id/
- https://blog.google/products/google-pay/google-wallet-digital-id-privacy-security/
- https://www.authenticid.com/glossary/digital-identity-wallet/
- https://www.idnow.io/products/identity-wallet/
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