For far too long, the U.S. has lacked any type of digital ID strategy that could help protect Americans from identity theft and fraud online. Years of widescale data breaches have exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of tens of millions of Americans and made it available for sale on the Dark Web, rendering traditional methods of verifying consumer identities online completely useless. As a result, identity theft and fraud online have skyrocketed.
Last week, Congress finally acted by introducing the bipartisan Better Digital Identity Act, which aims to create a national standards framework and unified database for verifying consumer identities in digital channels. The legislation comes at a critical time, as COVID-19 has forced Americans to rely on digital platforms for everything from their banking, to healthcare, to accessing government programs, which puts their PII at greater risk of being stolen.
Michael Magrath, Director, Global Regulations & Standards at OneSpan, an anti-fraud and digital identity solutions provider had this to say about the news:
“The Improving Digital Identities Act is an exciting piece of legislation. For far too long the United States has lacked a comprehensive digital ID strategy. With skyrocketing rates of identity theft and fraud occurring in digital channels, and billions of consumer credentials and PII exposed on the Dark Web, businesses and government agencies need better methods for verifying consumers’ identities during online transactions. The Improving Digital Identity Act will do just that, by creating a governmentwide approach to developing secure and interoperable methods for digital identity verification in both the public and private sectors. By helping develop a standards framework for digital identity verification and creating a unified database for digital identities and identity systems, the Act, if passed into law, will improve our digital lives and benefit consumers for years to come by strengthening security and reducing the risk of identity theft and fraud.”
A copy of the bill can be found here: https://foster.house.gov/sites/foster.house.gov/files/Digital%20Identity%20Act%20of%202020%20%28FOSTER_065_xml%29.pdf