Just today, my mother’s credit card was charged for two flight tickets that she did not purchase while she was midair. Her card information was stolen, of all places, at an airport-cart hiring kiosk. As we navigate the fast-paced and hack-prone digital age, managing digital identity is more crucial than ever. It’s not just about shielding personal information from hackers, financial fraud, and identity thieves but also about safeguarding online reputation and ensuring a smooth digital experience.
Initially, security was based on a single password verification, which evolved into two-factor authentication. The development of social logins by major platforms such as Facebook and Google subsequently provided ease while raising privacy issues, as these leaders began to manage a larger percentage of our digital identities. The environment then switched to multi-factor authentication, which combined blockchain and biometrics with standard codes and passwords.
As digital engagement grows in India, influencing everything from government services to social media and shopping, the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) states that digital public infrastructure (DPI), which includes digital identity systems, fast payment methods, and consent-based data sharing, enables 1.4 billion people to access essential services in finance, health, education, e-government, taxation, and skills development. India is also WhatsApp’s largest market, with 400 million users, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive digital identity management. This involves the protection of personal information online and the guarantee of proper access.
To address security concerns associated with traditional centralized databases, which are subject to data breaches, blockchain and biometric technologies are emerging as significant solutions, giving a more secure and decentralized approach to digital identity management.
How Biometrics and Blockchain Are Revolutionizing Digital Identity Security
Biometrics, which use unique physical characteristics like fingerprints, iris patterns, facial features, and voice prints, are regarded as a viable alternative to traditional methods such as passwords or PINs, which are susceptible to being forgotten, stolen, or hacked. These biometric traits are exceedingly difficult to reproduce, providing a higher level of protection.
Below are the benefits of biometric authentication:
Advanced Authentication: Biometrics is an important component of multi-factor authentication (MFA) systems since it adds another degree of protection to digital identity verification. When biometrics are integrated with other authentication techniques, such as passwords or tokens, MFA provides a more secure and dependable method of verifying user identities.
Flexible and Scalable Solutions: Biometric solutions are both scalable and adaptable, suitable for various applications across multiple industries. The application of biometric technology is made to enhance security and streamline operations in multiple domains, such as cellphones, mobile banking, e-commerce, border control, and healthcare. In India, this technology is incorporated into Aadhar and DigiLocker, a major project under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
However, to make the biometrics data more secure, blockchain comes as the game changer.
Blockchain serves as a decentralized digital ledger replicated across multiple computers, making information alteration extremely difficult since all copies must be updated at the same time. When combined with biometrics, blockchain keeps a cryptographic representation of data rather than the real data itself. This ensures that if someone acquires access to the blockchain, they will be unable to reassemble the biometric information. Biometric data is secured from being stored in a single, vulnerable location by combining it with blockchain. Instead, blockchain protects it by maintaining a digital “code” that represents the data, prohibiting unauthorized access to the biometric information.
Here are the main features:
Controlled Sharing: Individuals can selectively share their information with specific organizations or entities.
Decentralized Control: The system’s decentralized nature enhances security and transparency, giving users more control over their digital identities.
This promotes trust and transparency in managing personal information, making digital identity management more efficient and user-friendly. The GST Chain in India uses blockchain technology to record GST transactions. By connecting the many parties involved in the GST management framework, it ensures accurate and transparent transaction tracking.
The combination of biometrics and blockchain technology yields a viable option for digital identity authentication. By integrating the features of both technologies, we may create a system that not only improves security but also allows people to take control of their own identities. This is more than a technological accomplishment; it is a step toward a future in which trust and privacy are crucial to our digital interactions. And in a world where our online lives are more intertwined with our real ones, that is a future worth pursuing.