Core belief: a vision for future identities

The idea of having a unique identity is foundational in modern life. How does this drive you and your mission?

Establishing a core identity is the basis of anything a person does in both the physical and digital space. The first aspect is when a child is born, that child has an identity, which is the legal foundation from the beginning to the end of their life, for any and every transaction. Secondly, this identity must be accepted across borders and across systems, from smartphones to financial institutions. There are of course geopolitical issues when it comes to border crossings.

Providing these identities and opening these doors is what drives me – indeed, what drives all of us at Veridos every day. What we do is provide freedom to people, and try to implement systems that speak to each other geopolitically.

Can you delve deeper into the idea of a core or basic identity? It is clearly important at the individual level. How does it impact societies?

Having access to a basic identity is something which we in more developed parts of the world take for granted. Think of it like money: if you have it in your pocket, you can buy things, eat, even make a living. But you don’t think about the money itself. It is the same with identity. We travel anywhere. We can get our children registered and get them passports. It’s a right we have. 

Given that, it is very humbling to see people in other places with different experiences and expectations. That’s what gives me purpose, because when you experience its lack is when you realize how important identity is, because it is at the root of everything. It stays with you and enables everything you do from birth to the end of life.

At Veridos, we go to all the different governments. We take on board their different requirements and cultural priorities and offer them an end-to-end, viable solution across the entire identity life cycle of any given person. From data capturing, producing the birth certificate, through to verification at borders and registration – indeed, anything a citizen might require.

This differentiates us at Veridos. We focus on the software and act as an integrator for a government to provide the best possible services to their citizens, to provide the most freedom to them while taking care of the specific requirements of the government itself.

In my eyes, identity comes right after the provision of food and energy as a societal need, especially in developing countries. In fact, governments there require identities for the allocation of vital resources like food and energy. Without these needs being taken care of, social stability can’t be achieved.

What sort of values do you take with you when you’re in conversation with a prospective client?

We keep three things in mind.

1. Data quality
2. Security
3. Convenience of use, while maintaining data privacy

This is deeply embedded in our software. We have our own standards when it comes to security and data privacy. And while we try to cater for the needs of our clients, we maintain these standards.

Our challenge is to resolve this tension, to find the sweet spot between security, data privacy, and the convenience governments and their citizens want. In this way, we can enable trust between all stakeholders.

Trust is a good word. How important is it in what you do? How do you maintain it, in the face of bad actors?

Let’s take the example of travel again, since this is something most people can relate to. I liken a passport to the business card, or even the flag of your country, because it opens doors. It provides a sense of pride. It provides access to the world. And this is a force for good: easier travel between nations changes lives for the better.

A passport’s acceptance is a direct reflection of the trust in a country and, in the end, in its citizens. This trust is of course underpinned by the security of the document. Historically, this has been a dueling ground between the provider of the secure physical document, and the counterfeiter. 

This applies to the digital space as well. The secure element, the digital private public infrastructure, the root digital identity are all threatened by the new means of counterfeiting that the other side might use. They have access to the same technology.

It is crucial for us to be in the forefront of this in the digital space. This is at the heart of our own transformation from a hitherto silent provider of trust, security, and confidence, to much more of a SecurityTech player. We maintain our background and expertise in the physical space, while doing the same thing in the digital space as well.

How is the issue of trust playing out in the digital space? Are there other ways in which the question of trust has influenced your thinking?

Aside from private companies like us, big tech players are entering this field. One of the by-products of being a trusted brand is that you can be a provider of identity for transactions. A $200 transaction, for example: you trust an online player for that. But when you buy a home, you probably want a government institution to have a registry of that.

This trust has to be built, and it is absolutely crucial. There are nations that use your digital core ID with a PKI (public key infrastructure) in construction, in buying property and getting it entered in the corresponding registry. At the other end of the scale, some countries require 300 pages to buy a garage.

This is another dynamic that is at the heart of SecurityTech. We enable governments to establish confidence. So, their citizens can work, buy goods, cross borders. All these actions require trust. We enable governments to do that a technical level. Politically they have to do it on their own, of course. Once that is in place, we position ourselves to establish the trust ourselves as a provider, where we become an intermediary and take over a lot of the government’s responsibilities.

Let’s discuss what a lot of governments are talking about, then: how do you see the growth of mobile IDs?

A mobile or digital ID is the digital twin of its physical counterpart, especially when we talk about core identity. They both enable and secure access to the world, simply in different spaces. 

I think it would helpful here to differentiate here between what we call core identities – passports, national ID cards, and the like – and everything else. There are many documents, like a fishing license, that could easily become digital, and indeed will soon only exist in that form. They are not used very often, and usually only in one jurisdiction. The technology exists; it is sufficient for all concerned: these can and will be digital only in the near future.

On the other hand, consider the passport specifications for a border crossing. The passport is really the only legal identity document that allows you to travel because it adheres to a certain standard. Its verification only works when it is stored in a global system. This global system is set by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal. You don’t need all this for your fishing license.

We believe core identities, which are used to cross borders, will stay both physical and digital. Technologically, there’s no problem. They could easily be digital-only. But our experience of almost two centuries of working with governments suggests that they will require both types of documents. 

But, technically, there is no problem with digital-only identities, even in core applications?

It’s technically viable. But there are geopolitical issues we have no influence over. In our view, for global travel, the paper document is the last resort, much as a central bank is the lender of last resort, if you think of the monetary system. The paper document will stay.

An interesting aspect of mobile IDs is that they are always up to date. But a physical ID may have a lifespan of 10 years, and won’t reflect life changes such as marital status or current address. How can that be dealt with?

Even in the most advanced countries, you’ll find thousands of people who are registered at different addresses. However, even though it’s not on your physical document, it should be in the database. If you have the secure backbone of a functional government system, you might not need to update your physical data. 

Again, technologically it isn’t an issue. In the United States, we offer something called the “DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) at home,” a digital enrollment using the biometrics of advanced mobile devices. We rolled this out during COVID for issuing drivers’ licenses. The barrier isn’t the technology. It’s really in the consistency and fluidity of the government systems that utilize it. 

Technology is something you’ve written and spoken about, including AI. When you say “trustworthy AI,” what do you have in mind?

At the moment, AI is just a reflection of what is being fed into it. It has biases, it has racism, it has anything you don’t want to have in your own life. By contrast, “trustworthy” AI has to be based on language models and parameters that have certain decision criteria, which are taught. Building on that, what I would consider trustworthy AI would have a certain set of values, which would ensure that the AI or the automated decision making (ADM) is on the right track. If that were to happen, it would have huge potential to increase convenience and security.

Seamless travel is the best example. If you have one legislation, or one customer – one airport, say, which is closely aligned with the regulator – then you have a closed system. Such a system can be made seamless tomorrow. The decision-making is so much more efficient and secure in an eGate than with a border guard.

In the end, it’s the same back end, but you have a person doing all the checks, and the machine making automated decisions. The person remains the decision maker because the system will only flag a discrepancy. That’s a game changer in the whole travel industry.

The root identity is important and has to be 100% secure. But the developments around it, in ADM and verification, for instance – they’re very exciting. Take verification: it is required wherever you go, whether it’s a physical check or digital, an internet purchase or KYC process. This will move and evolve very quickly over the next few years.

What is of interest to you, given your experience? Will there remain a focus on building large root identity schemes, or is verification the future for you?

Both together. That’s what really differentiates us. We provide the entire chain of identity to governments. I believe that a lot of our foundational work remains in the core identity part, in production of passports and drivers’ licenses, not running out of passports when people need them.

Then comes the growth trajectory, which is more on the verification side, in wallets and the like. This is extremely important. 

All the things in between are more a matter of infrastructure and convenience, no matter how you do it. But verification is crucial and super exciting.

Let’s talk about digital travel credentials (DTCs). How do you see them taking shape in the market?

I think this is one of the most important features that we have to give to governments as a tool. The United States is a great example with ESTA. Frankly, it’s unbearable how hard it is for some people even to get back home to get a new passport if they’ve misplaced their old one. DTCs are a part of our offering. Everyone should have it. There shouldn’t be lines for visa on arrival and things like that, as we see at airports around the world. The solution is at hand. DTCs have huge potential.

Finally, what do you think sets Veridos apart?

Veridos is a solution provider to governments. We do everything to help governments provide a unique identity to everyone in the digital and the physical space. We handle the entire solution from end to end. When we don’t have something, we will build it or add to our system, where the software is the brain and the software comes from us. 

That’s our own intellectual property. The machine you can buy from different places.

Biometrics, physical and digital security, cryptography: these are all the basics of the solution. We offer the physical documents, and then their digital twins for the digital space. First you have the foundation, then the house, and then the services around it. That’s the ecosystem that comes up around the solution. 

When it comes to the foundation, in building the house, we are the benchmark. We partner with governments in combining security with convenience and answering the need for local requirements.

As we transition to SecurityTech, we are building all the additional use cases, like mobile IDs, like DTCs, like digital border control. Governments trust us, and we enable their citizens to trust the processes we are building.