From fake online shops, investment fraud and stolen bank details to synthetic voices and AI-assisted impersonation, online scams are becoming increasingly convincing. Could digital identity be designed so that stealing a password, forging a message or manipulating a user would no longer be enough to carry out an unauthorised action?
Can digital identity be designed so that even a breach of an administrator account does not grant direct access to users’ personal data?
The internet can fail. Mobile networks can disappear. A central service can become temporarily unavailable. But a person does not stop being who they are. Should their digital identity stop working as well? QEI explores a different approach: the internet as infrastructure for issuance and synchronisation, but not necessarily as a requirement for every individual proof.
In Italy, three biometric identity cards with their microchips removed with unusual precision were discovered within a matter of days. The cases raise a question that goes beyond the physical protection of a document: what happens to digital identity when its carrier is compromised?
Fraudsters targeting Italy’s Fideuram reportedly used deceptive communications and artificial intelligence to imitate the voice of a trusted person. The result: transfers totalling about €95 million. The case exposes a growing problem: if a person’s voice, image and communication style can be convincingly imitated, what should proof of digital identity and authority rely on in the future?
A recent security incident involving Revolut raises a question that goes far beyond one company or one financial institution: how can we reliably verify in the digital world not only where a request for sensitive data comes from, but also who is actually sending it, whether that person is authorized to make the request, and which data they are entitled to access? The case shows that a communication channel can appear legitimate without necessarily proving the identity and authority of the person on the other side.
The Institute 1 April has completed the preparation of a proposal for a QEI – Quantized Encrypted Identity research pilot project for the Republic of Slovenia. The document represents the next step in the development of the QEI initiative.
Digital identity is becoming one of the key building blocks of the digital society. In the coming years, we will use it not only to access government portals, but increasingly also when interacting with banks, healthcare services, educational institutions, businesses and other digital services.
Institute 1. april has received an official response from the European Commission regarding the strategic QEI – Quantized Encrypted Identity initiative, which is intended to explore safer and more privacy-oriented approaches to digital identity.
The European Union is entering an important phase in the development of digital identity. A citizen’s identity is increasingly understood not simply as an identity document or a username used to access an online service.
