Govt looks to banks for digital ID buy-in

The federal government has set its sights on getting Australia’s banks and other regulated private sector entities to become accredited providers under its digital identity scheme.

The Digital Transformation Agency will spend the next three months bedding down the accreditation “requirements for commercial sector providers” looking to get on-board.

The requirements will be contained in the fourth iteration of the trusted digital identity framework (TDIF) used to govern the national federated identity model.

Until now, only the government’s own identity provider, the Australian Taxation Office, and Australia Post have been accredited as identity providers under the scheme.

However the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been agitating strongly for greater adoption of digital identities to better secure online and put a dent into spiraling online credit card fraud losses that are now more than $470 million a tear in Australia.

The ATO offers citizens the ability to create a digital identity to access online government services through its myGovID app, though this is currently limited to only the agency’s business portals.

Australia Post, on the other hand, will eventually allow consumers to verify their identity with its Digital iD system in order to access online government services.

The identity provider’s work in conjunction with Services Australia’s TDIF accredited identity exchange – a gateway used to verify an individual’s credentials without revealing their identity to service providers.

But to ensure the federated digital identity model is whole-of-economy solution, the DTA also needs buy-in from the commercial sector, particularly the banks.

It was always the government’s intention to allow individuals to choose their identity provider and access a range of public and private sector services through a single digital identity credential.

This requires the DTA to lay the groundwork for commercial sector TDIF assessment and accreditation, which covers usability, accessibility, privacy, protection, security, risk management and fraud control.

Minister for Government Service Stuart Robert said consultation with individuals, businesses and organisations would take place across the country to develop the latest iteration of the TDIF.

The consultation will also ensure the TDIF is interoperable with other trust frameworks such as the Australian Payment Council's TrustID framework.

“Australians rightly expect government services to be simple, seamless and safe,” he said.

“The standards established through this framework will enable government to meet this expectation, ensuring Australians have secure and reliable access to digital government services.”

He has previously said the scheme’s future would see “many government agencies, banks, or other organisations undergo accreditation”.

“Providing Australians with choice and control of who they share identity information with was one of the recommendations of the Financial Services Inquiry that we have delivered on,” he said in July

The fourth iteration of the framework is slated for release in early 2020.