Getting serious about digital identities

Ajay Biyani

IN HIS book ‘21 Lessons for the 21st Century’, noted historian Yuval Noah Harari highlighted how national identities were forged across centuries, “because humans faced problems and opportunities that were far beyond the scope of local tribes and which only countrywide cooperation could hope to handle”.

These national identities slowly evolved from the analogue era into digital identities in recent years, enabling people to easily access digital services and transact with both government and private service providers. But this period also led to an increase in cybercrime and digital identity fraud.