Current Problems of Identity and Authentication

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."--Peter Steiner

Imagine your identities being shared, sold and used by others

“Identity has been used throughout human history to identify criminals, protect transactions and prevent forgeries. At a basic level, identity is used to ensure an individual is who they claim to be. As civilization evolved, so did identity."-- Joseph Burton, CEO of TeleSign

Identity verification isn't a new concept. As early as 3,000 B.C., there is evidence of fingerprints used to "seal" business transactions on clay tablets in ancient Babylon.

Signet rings and seals were used in ancient Egypt as marks of authenticity on official documentation. Tattoos and jewellery as identification were used thousands of years ago to denote status, tribal affiliation and more.

"Evolve"

Fast forward to 2022 A.D., with the advancement of technology, "identity" has evolved into a diverse notion, in which it is more than just who you are, but also what you do, and how you are stored online. It is used in a context to describe an aggregation of all the information you store, upload and activities you conduct on the internet, in a term we name as "Digital Identity".

The "identities" that describe you, have become so interlaced with each other, in both the virtual world and reality, that you can literally use your Facebook, Google and Microsoft accounts just as how you use your "passport" to travel around the world of internet.

Through various means of identity verification that make up an interlinked web of interdependencies, we get to verify our identities, where one of your identities vouch for your eligibility to access another service.

When you choose to log in with Facebook, you authorize Facebook to represent you online. While this is often convenient for easy and quick access to the latest mobile app you want to try out, you are paying a price by allowing Facebook to share and sell not only your data but also your digital identity.

However, your digital identity is more than your login credentials. This is merely the authentication that connects you with the digital you. Your digital identity consists of thousands of data points that make up a profile of who you are and your preferences. Today, your digital identity is scattered all over the internet, where Facebook owns our social identity, retailers own our shopping patterns, credit agencies hold our creditworthiness, Google knows what we have been curious about since the dawn of the internet and your bank owns your payment history. As a result, we are all analyzed in detail to predict our future behaviour and monetize our digital identities.

Not only do we lack ownership of our own data, but our fragmented digital identities where various third parties own bits and pieces only give part of the picture, and also propose vulnerabilities for those third parties. As an example, fraudsters have started to take advantage of this in countries with no national identifier by creating synthetic digital identities by signing up digital services and applying for credit. Even though the initial credit application is rejected, a credit file is automatically created, thus creating a digital paper trail for a non-existing person. With approximately 10 million new consumer credit files generated in the U.S. each year, synthetic identities can be very difficult to detect. Over time, these synthetic identities gain access to credit, and bank losses due to synthetic fraud are estimated to amount for somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion each year.

As ironic as it may sound, we are "evolving" into somewhat of a state of enslavement and retardation, back to where we took years and years to break out of, that is to say, the state of being controlled, surveyed, deceived and manipulated by a centralized authority and a random "dog" that we do not know, and we are the persecutors and victims at the same time, by submitting and contributing to this evolution, in the wheel of time.

"Decentralize"

But we aren't going back, are we? Thanks to the Blockchain, we are not.

Decentralized identity has revolutionary benefits for businesses.

They can eliminate burdensome identity verification and provide seamless and secure online experiences for users. And by committing to protecting user information, organisations can build trust and enjoy better relationships with customers.

dpAuth creates an ecosystem to validify individual credentials and identity, and we give ownership of identities back to the identity holders.

We create value for the verifier by providing a safe, economical and time-saving solution in the work of identity and credential verfication.