“The nation’s top mobile carrier said blockchain-based digital identification will make the process of verifying personal information much simpler and safer. The Korean and German firms will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC), scheduled to kick off on Monday in Barcelona. Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs will work together to develop and commercialize blockchain-based mobile identification that can be utilized in various areas including access control, dealings and contracts.”

“Under the proposed new rules, identity cards will have to be produced in a uniform, credit card format (ID-1), include a machine-readable zone, and follow the minimum security standards set out by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). They will also need to include a photo and two fingerprints of the cardholder, stored in a digital format, on a contactless chip. ID cards will indicate the country code of the member state issuing them, inside an EU flag.”

“This initiative will serve as the foundation for new Mastercard services powered by Microsoft Azure and built in collaboration with leaders in the banking, mobile network operator and government communities. Microsoft and Mastercard are bringing together their respective strengths – Microsoft’s expertise in identity technology and Mastercard’s expertise in securely orchestrating digital interactions in a complex multi-stakeholder ecosystem.”

“Big banks are enlisting the local DMV in their fight against identity fraud. Lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. , Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are looking for ways to link up with databases at state departments of motor vehicles and other government offices to make sure potential customers are who they say they are.”

“PNC Bank, National Association, announced today a strategic alliance with GIACT Systems^®, the leader in helping companies positively identify and authenticate customers. By employing GIACT’s verification and authentication technology, PNC commercial clients will be armed with real-time fraud prevention tools to confirm an account is open, active and in good standing prior to initiating a payment.”

“With web browsers cracking down on ad trackers, data privacy laws going into effect and data breaches remaining ever present, it is presumably not a great time for marketers to be dependent on data that they acquire from other companies. These trends give marketers incentive to use less third-party data that they obtain from companies without direct user relationships, and instead, use more first-party data that they collect directly from their customers.”

“Solid is a platform, built using the existing web. It gives every user a choice about where data is stored, which specific people and groups can access select elements, and which apps you use. It allows you, your family and colleagues, to link and share data with anyone. It allows people to look at the same data with different apps at the same time.”

“Gemalto has partnered with R3 to launch the Gemalto Trust ID Network, which allows users to create their own digital identity, and carry it over to digital service providers. This way users can sign in to digital banking, e-commerce and e-government services, without having to go through repeated due diligence processes for each of them.”

“Security researchers released a tool this week that lets you collect social media profiles of a massive amount of people using face recognition. While that might sound like a terrible idea, the tool’s creators say it will help security professionals by giving them the same tools as the bad guys.”

“I’m excited to share that Confyrm has decided to join Capital One, where I’ll be leading Capital One’s growing Consumer Identity Services team.”

“Target plans to eliminate them this month. Walmart considers signatures “worthless” and has already stopped recording them on most transactions, according to Randy Hargrove, a company spokesman. It will soon get rid of them completely.

“The internet was developed without a true user identity layer. To address this infrastructure flaw, IBM announced on April 4 that it was joining the Sovrin Network, as a founding Steward, to help create, operate and maintain the Sovrin Foundation’s decentralized digital identity network.”

“Over the last 12 months we’ve invested in incubating a set of ideas for using Blockchain (and other distributed ledger technologies) to create new types of digital identities, identities designed from the ground up to enhance personal privacy, security and control. We’re pretty excited by what we’ve learned and by the new partnerships we’ve formed in the process.”