The Biden administration is using what little time it has left to bolster digital ID use for applications for public benefits. An executive order follows a bill signed on December 30 that seeks to expand digital ID in federal agencies.
The executive order will now serve to have those agencies use digital documents like mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and electronic passwords, as a method of online identity verification.
The use of the controversial login.gov is not made mandatory by the order, while the document at the same time mentions different verification methods, such as the Social Security Administration’s social security number verification services, to be used in federal benefit programs.
The order tasks the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with producing guidance concerning how these digital IDs are used, and that builds on NIST working on digital authentication standards guidelines, the Digital Identity Guidelines.
The idea of standardization is not insignificant here, since the push is to have federal agencies use digital ID schemes already implemented by a number of states, to expand its own use of this type of identity verification. At the same time, the order allows those agencies that can approve grants to fund mobile license implementation in states – at this time, people in about 15 US states are issued mDls.
Stress is being put on preventing fraud that involves stolen identity information – which is said to have seen a 3,000 percent increase during the pandemic. Now, a notification system that would let those in the public benefits system know their information is being used is another project developed, at this point at the pilot stage, by the Treasury and General Services Administration.
As for the focus on mDls, the states that issue those allow citizens to use them for verification purposes, including at airports. This has led observers to think the cybersecurity executive order, which will have to be approved by the president, is also geared toward speeding up the adoption of REAL ID.
US travelers will have to be REAL ID compliant for domestic flights, and in order to enter some federal facilities, with the deadline to implement the scheme being this year.
