Certificates, trusted identities and the Internet of Things
Part of the future of identity series
12 December, 2014
category: Corporate, Digital ID, Financial
By Joshua Jabs, vice president of strategic marketing, Entrust, part of Datacard Group
Jabs joined Datacard in 2009 as vice president of government vertical. Prior, Jabs directed investor engagements as an equity analyst in the Security and Financial Technology sectors at Roth Capital Partners and Piper Jaffray and held roles within the U.S. government in areas dealing with new technology investments and security research.
Thanks to advances in mobility and cloud infrastructure, we’re all becoming more accustomed to having access to data of all kinds, at any time, and from anywhere.
To get an idea of how instant and secure access to data will play out in the future, let’s consider some of the technologies that will help make it a reality.
First, consider the rise of wearable technology. Today, wearables are primarily used for fitness and health care, but the fundamental premise is to use real-time data from the user and his or her surroundings to enhance interactions. We are just beginning to glimpse what is possible.
Next, consider the rise of touch screen kiosks that increase the efficiency of engagements that until now have been handled completely by humans. In the next few years, waiting in lines based on the capacity of service staff in retail and chain restaurants will be a vastly different and more pleasant experience.
Imagine walking into a bank in 2019 wearing a rubber bangle similar to a FitBit device, everything in the branch is instantly personalized for you – from the advertising messages you see, to instant access to account information
Technology will only be part of the change, as the primary focus will be on enabling the user experience. In order to enhance user experiences, a balance of trust and convenience is needed.
Trusted identities in the world of digital security is slightly different from the public’s commonly held belief of the term. Identity enables knowledge of who or what is on either end of a digital transaction. In addition to people, there are identities associated with PCs, smart phones, tablets, apps, wearables, touchscreen kiosks, cars and the list goes on and on. The number of identities will expand massively by 2019 as we embrace the Internet of Things.
These trusted identities can, and must, be protected to create truly trusted transactions.
While a number of legacy technologies will likely continue to exist in this environment, risk-based approaches and use of certificates will play much larger roles. This trend will be driven by a need for more transparent interaction by the users, smarter devices being able to seamlessly store and share credentials, and a need to scale from millions to billions of identities living in devices.
In the end, trusted identities will become transparent, except when the user desires to be in control. Once certificates are installed, there will be no additional work to be done, no need to enter multiple passwords, one time passcodes or need to maneuver through a Q&A security screen to access the network. Moreover, the benefit is this technology is safer than any password or combination of passwords.
To think about these technologies in action, let’s consider the brick-and-mortar bank branch. In the retail bank of 2019, we will see an increasingly personalized and engaging environment. The branch will be aware of the user providing more personalized services. Rather than a gatekeeper at the end of a queue, the teller will become a consultant helping customers work through options.
Here’s how it’ll happen. The “bank of the future” will be equipped with touch screen kiosks that will enable customers to quickly and easily complete even complex transactions, such as deposits or transfers. The wearable technology mentioned earlier may play a key role in making these transactions quick and simple.
Imagine walking into a bank in 2019. Wearing a rubber bangle similar to a FitBit device, everything in the branch is instantly personalized for you – from the advertising messages you see, to instant access to account information. All of this information will be quickly and readily available because security technology – such as certificates – will underpin every transaction, creating trusted interactions between customers and the bank. The tellers will help users work through options as needed as part of the self-service environment, but the role they play will have significantly changed from the transaction processing function we have today.
The same scenario holds true in the other arenas. In the next few years, secure technology in the workplace will allow us to quickly and seamlessly enter physical locations, login to our applications, and even sign sensitive documents. As citizens, secure technology will provide the same level of service and access to government services such as the DMV or even as travelers passing through airports. With kiosks, e-gates and automated border control, the experience of travel domestically and internationally could become easier and more secure.
Security technology will enable us to seamlessly do the things we need to do, when we want, which will be made possible by a security architecture. If done correctly, this architecture will allow organizations to trust the identity of all individuals and devices accessing their networks and provide user aware decisioning that keeps the interaction as transparent and convenient as possible.