MWC18: Operators Poised to make Unique Contribution to Securing Trust in Digital Identity

As the digital economy grows, and the Internet of Things expands, digital identity authentication will play an increasingly routine role in the lives of billions around the world.  The security and reliability of the identity solutions they use will therefore only become more crucial as time passes.  With growth potential reliant on consumer trust, the interests of the industry as a whole are best served by early proof that individuals’ digital identities are in safe hands.

Mobile network operators can offer unparalleled security and trust to this end through their transmission architecture.  In addition to this, however, operators have a unique capacity to determine whether a proposed transaction seems unusual or suspicious.  By automatically detecting whether a payment is out of keeping with a customer’s normal usage attributes – whether it comes from an unusual location or unexpected device, for example – operators can flag an action for investigation, and check with the verified user that they are behind it.  Data attributes comprise a particularly valuable contribution to securing the digital economy, the growth of which depends so strongly on user confidence.

We are therefore pleased to host a flagship seminar at the Mobile World Congress this year on Data Attributes as the New Digital Identity Currency, bringing together leading operators and their security partners to consider the practicalities and economics of data attributes in digital identity.  Communications security firm BICS will open with an overview of global demand, setting the context for the session as a whole.  We will then hear presentations from Orange and Chungwa Telecom on their work in digital attributes in Taiwan and Europe, followed by an in-depth panel discussion on how attributes are being monetised in the UK, featuring senior representatives from EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.  We will then conclude with a presentation and panel analysis on how attributes are poised to make a unique contribution to the ongoing trend towards cross-border transactions, particularly in the financial sector, featuring a senior member of the security team at Telesign.  The event takes place on February 26 between 11:00 and 13:00, and is open to all those interested in helping secure digital payments, but do please register here.

We are also delighted to convene a lineup of high-profile speakers on the upcoming regulatory landscape.  Our second seminar,  How are Identity Regulations Shaping the Digital World? In-Depth Overview of PSD2, eIDAS and New Upcoming Identity Initiatives, will take place on 27 February between 16:30 and 18:30, featuring prominent speakers on the regulatory challenges and opportunities for the digital identity ecosystem in 2018.  The European Union’s eIDAS regulation on digital identity will feature prominently, as will the new PSD2 regime in financial services; we will also consider use cases and trends in the rapidly growing digital economy of Asia.  Particular attention will be paid to the uniquely strong position operators find themselves in to meet these regulatory challenges, through the pan-industry identity solution Mobile Connect.  With the combined expertise of representatives from NIST, Orange, Clayster, GovTech, CAPS, the Norwegian Government and the European Union, as well as the GSMA, this session promises a rare opportunity for insight into the shape of things to come in digital identity.  We look forward to a productive discussion, with plenty of time for contributions from the floor – please register here to ensure a place.

Throughout the Mobile World Congress, attendees can drop in to the GSMA Innovation City to see Mobile Connect in action.  The GSMA will be conducting demonstrations with a range of partners in healthcare and banking, showcasing the ease and confidence with which users can now access services via their mobile device.  Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone, OpenCDE and San Diego Health Connect will demonstrate Mobile Connect’s capacity to authenticate access to healthcare accounts; VISA and InterBev will show how they have used Mobile Connect to verify identities for access to medicines; and Orange, Danal and Idemia will illustrate its use in setting up retail bank accounts.  Securing trust in digital identity is off to an excellent start, but there is much work still to be done, and that work will succeed best with collaboration at its heart.  We very much hope you will be able to join us in helping bring that success about.