Federal ID scheme: cyber fraud and identity theft will be the biggest challenge

Dr Chao Chen, Senior Lecturer, AI and Business Analytics

Topics: digital identity, cyber fraud, identity theft

“The commonwealth, state and territory agreement marks a key step in combating cyber fraud and identity theft.

“Traditional ID verification methods are increasingly vulnerable in our digital age, as seen in the recent Optus and Medibank data breaches.

“Biometric authentication, such as fingerprints, iris scans, and face recognition, offer a far more personalised level of security.

“However, it isn't a silver bullet. Potential pitfalls include bypassing of biometric devices, spoofing attacks, and, importantly, privacy concerns.

“Advances in technologies like liveness detection and encryption can help minimise these risks. 

“Also, integrating multiple biometric factors can further improve the system's resilience to fraud.  

“For example, a physiological signal-based authentication system has the potential to blend the high security of biometric identification with increased user comfort and privacy.”

Chao Chen is a senior lecturer in AI and Business Analytics and works on interdisciplinary research in AI and cyber security, including AI for cyber security and trustworthy AI.

Dr Arathi Arakala, RMIT Centre for Cyber Security, Research and Innovation

Topics: digital identification, biometric data, personal data

“The use of biometric characteristics like face recognition is a much-needed step to share credentials across the varied ID services currently in use at the national and state and territory levels.

“Before the government jumps headfirst into the widespread use of biometric data for an ID service, it is vital that technologies and policies to securely store, transfer, and compare the collected biometric data are designed according to established standards and regulations.

“Where possible these ID services must refrain from storing biometric data in central databases and opt for client-side solutions.

“Individuals must be given full control of the choice to use (or not) their biometric information for an identification service.  

“The public’s trust in the use of biometric systems can only be fostered by transparent data use policies, public education and providing a real choice to use it, or not.”

Dr Arathi Arakala is a Lecturer in Mathematics and member of RMIT’s Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CCSRI). Her research program includes developing mathematical algorithms to protect biometric data and user privacy.  

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RMIT Communications, 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au