Mobile Driver’s Licenses: Revolutionizing Identity Verification with Enhanced Security and Convenience
What is a Mobile Driver's License?
A Mobile Driver's License (mDL) is a digital version of a physical driver's license usable from a mobile device. It is issued by a government and carries the government digital signature so that it’s trusted and cannot be tampered with. It is stored in a dedicated mobile app or a digital wallet. A mDL offers enhanced security, privacy, and convenience over a physical license, and can reduce identity fraud. Additionally, mDL Holders have control over the data they share and with whom they share it.
Where can you use a Mobile Driver's License?
Mobile Driver's Licenses (mDLs) can be used everywhere you use physical driver's licenses. You can purchase liquor, enter buildings, drive or rent cars, and check into hotels. mDLs also offer expanded functionality for online and remote interactions, such as logging into websites, verifying age, or applying for benefits. Moreover, mDLs can automate specific tasks, such as building access. Instead of checking a Physical Drivers License manually by a person for building access, you can simply scan your mDL for a seamless entry.
Is an mDL more secure than a physical driver's license?
Problems with current physical licenses
It is difficult to determine if a physical driver's license is fake or real. There are a few methods that can be used, such as F.L.A.G.
Feel: Check the card's rigidity, edges, bumps, and raised features (signatures, dates).
Look: Inspect for alterations, fonts, dates, photo match (focus on facial features), height, and hidden features revealed by different light sources or 8x magnification of the card (e.g., California example). Visually verify the person presenting to the ID.
Ask: Get a feel for whether the person presenting the ID knows the ID number, personal information, birth month.
Give Back: If the tests pass, return the ID. If not, refuse service and follow company policy (seize ID if necessary).
However, fake IDs evolve as quickly as official technology. These methods leave open multiple ways in which fraud can occur with physical driver's licenses.
Ways fraud can occur with physical licenses:
Photo alteration: Fraudsters can change the photo on the license without affecting the barcode data by physically swapping photos on the license and simulating overlays.
Data manipulation: Skilled criminals can alter the information printed on the license, including name, address, date of birth, and license number. This can be done through high-quality printing techniques or physically manipulating the license material.
Barcode layover - printing a PDF417 barcode with altered or different data to embed in or stick onto the back of the license.
Counterfeit licenses: Entirely fake driver's licenses can be produced using high-quality materials and printing techniques. These licenses may appear genuine at first glance and often contain the security features of real licenses. Their production cost is low because criminal enterprises exploit the identity data submitted to obtain one.
To combat counterfeit licenses and verify the authenticity of physical licenses, multiple methods of verification can be employed to meet the risk level of the service being authorized:
Checking security features: Holograms, UV/IR markings, magnification-revealed security features, and other physical features can help identify fakes, but require trained personnel or specialized equipment.
Verifying with the issuing authority: Even if available, contacting the DMV or other issuing authority can be time-consuming, costly, and inconvenient, particularly for small businesses.
All these validations, however, can get expensive, and small business owners may not have access to the necessary tools to verify and authenticate a driver's license.
How does Mobile Driver's License address this issue?
mDLs are stored in a mobile wallet or app and the data is digitally and cryptographically signed by the state or provincial issuer. This signed data can be digitally and cryptographically validated by verifiers or relying parties. There is no need for specialized equipment or verification against trusted sources like the DMV or third-party information brokers.
Mobile driver's licenses offer the following benefits:
Digitally signed data: The data on a mobile driver's license is digitally signed by the issuing authority.
Cryptographic verification: Verifiers can use their smartphones or other devices to run mDL Verification Apps such as Oneproof Verification App cryptographically validate the license data, eliminating the need for specialized equipment or contacting the issuing authority. Readers can request only the subset of mDL data required for the transaction, and the data itself can be verified( For example first_name: John, age_over_21: true, etc..This is advantageous because it allows verification without having to reach out to the DMV, use equipment to check holograms or ensure that no photo or data manipulation has occurred. It lowers the risk to the Verifier that doesn’t have to process full ID data.
The Verifier must still verify the mDL Holder identity
In both in-person and remote scenarios, you can be confident that the ID data is real. However, how can you ensure that the person sharing their ID is the actual owner?
When reading an mDL, the reader ask for the required ID information and a photo. For example, at a bar, ask for "age_over_21" and a photo. Both the age-over-21 status and the photo can now be digitally verified accurate.
Then, simply check the verified photo against the person who just shared it. The mDL protocol itself prevents “relay attack” presentation because the reader creates a secure, encrypted channel to the presenting device. No other device can eavesdrop or participate.
Readers can additionally implement biometric verification of the presenter using a camera to take a live picture and matching to the verified portrait photo. With downloadable apps, the camera sensor of the reader is perfect for this, and the function can be built into specialized point of service readers. More on this is a future article.
To Summarize Mobile driver's license can significantly reduce fraud, cost of identity verification and increase compliance. Proper implementation of the Assurance level should be implemented based on compliance requirements.
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