Identity predictions for 2023

Undoubtedly a pivotal year for identity and technology; we asked three of our identity experts what their predictions for 2023 are. Up first is Gautam Hazari, Chief Technology Officer at Sekura Mobile Intelligence Ltd and identity founding father with his three predictions, followed by CEO Mark Harvey and finally, Chief Product Officer Keiron Dalton. Let’s look at what they think 2023 has in store for identity:

Identity predictions for 2023, Gautam Hazari, Sekura Chief Technology Officer.

1. Mobile wallets will move towards the mainstream.

From driving licences to identity wallets, and stored value account wallets to crypto wallets – these will become mobile-centric. Authentication and identity protection for the wallet owner will be critical. Regulators (EU Digital Identity: The European Digital Wallet, International Standards Bodies (ISO18013-5 for mDL – mobile Driving License), OEMs/Mobile OS providers (Android’s JetPack suite, iOS support for mDL from iOS 15), all the major crypto exchanges providing mobile wallets are accelerating the trend. Decentralised identity and Self-Sovereign Identity will catalyse the wallet ecosystem.

2. AI everywhere and in everything.

AI and Machine Learning (ML) will keep disrupting every aspect of our lives as well as businesses. ML-driven account takeover will become more intense – synthetic identity fraud is projected to cost $2.5 billion to businesses this year and will double the number to $5 billion by 2024 – fuelled by ML-generated synthetic profiles (generating synthetic human profile pics is commoditised through ML algorithms: This Person Does Not Exist). Protecting identity fraud, the need for seamless, passive and continuous authentication will become critical. Mobile authentication will start to become more mainstream.

3. Web3, Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) will become a little more real.

Microsoft and Nvidia are collaborating on Metaverse platforms, and it is predicted that Metaverse will add $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030. 2023 will start to shape the direction of Metaverse from buzzword to business, and AR/VR technology will add to the enablement. NFTs will begin to progress more. This entire space will create even more need for humanisation of the technology platforms and identity protection.

Identity predictions for 2023, Mark Harvey, Sekura Chief Executive Officer.

1. Growth in fraud…isn’t it obvious?

With the world in such an unstable position at the moment, it forms the ideal playground for fraudsters as people try to save money or cut corners. I can’t blame the people for this but want them to be aware that around every corner a fraudster awaits. There will be more targeted #phishing attacks and we will start to see a much bigger impact on #IoT attacks too. The connected fridge in your home will have a payment mechanism connected to it; as Elon Musk said: let that sink in.

As the big tech companies move forward with the development of Machine Learning (ML) we need to watch closely for #deepfakes. They are already impressive, but as the year moves on, these will continue to get better; are we entering an era of being two-faced..? The bad actors will take advantage as more companies use biometrics as security factors, so there will be a need to consider other intrinsic forms like mobile data intelligence as key elements to help combat this.

2. Payments and Identity

We often see #payments and identity being two different things. They are, however, linked at their core; to open any form of financial account, whether that’s e-commerce, betting, gaming, streaming TV service etc. you need a payment instrument. Although the #neobanks are using the virtual card model more, you will still need to prove your identity before being issued one. In certain countries, there is also a major issue with card not present transactions. If only there was a way of combatting this… It’s of course a tongue-in-cheek comment as the mobile device already plays a part in this transaction – we will see this become commonplace throughout 2023 and beyond.

3. Industry consolidation

“Build it and they will come” is a phrase that has been used for years, though this has not worked for many in the digital identity space. To the outside world, the term ‘#digitalidentity’ means giving me access to an online version of my passport or driving license, however behind the scenes is a complex web of companies fighting it out to hold that data on a server somewhere that’s compliant and un-hackable. As the digital identity ecosystem began to grow, more and more companies entered and for some, maybe too early. A great company in the United States, Danal was a pioneer in mobile identity but unfortunately, mobile operators were just not ready and Danal was sold to Boku who after a couple of years sold it on again to Twilio – can they help shift the ecosystem?

There are now a lot of venture capitalists circling identity companies and I see lots of smaller companies being eaten up this year. Look out for the equivalent of Amazon in the identity space; maybe it already exists but we just don’t know it yet…

Identity predictions for 2023, Keiron Dalton, Chief Product Officer.

1. Devices to get even smarter. 

The energy and cost of living crisis will be driving further innovation to be more efficient, provide better advice and be more proactive. This speaks to a further requirement for identity for security reasons but also for personalisation, knowing your customer and we hope, humanisation, touching on Gautam Hazari’s Identity for IoT requirement.

2. Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG).

Especially the environmental element of this. More visibility of carbon footprint, more awareness digitally and socially of our impact on the planet. Again, there’s a massive reliance on identity. Stitching together applications with an underlying identity to give a holistic view of our impact will be something we’ll be seeing more of for sure.

3. Data.

Regulation, technology and humans: all variables on the impact of data. Regulation ramps globally and is expected to hit nearly two-thirds of the planet in 2023. Technology continues to mature around Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and presents an opportunity for even the most monolithic of banks to fend off the rise of challenger banks. NatWest is a good example of how they’re investing in data as the answer to myriad challenges. As for humans, the requirement for expertise grows: employment of data scientists is projected to grow 36% from 2021 to 2031 – that’s around 13,500 openings for data scientists projected each year over the decade, much faster than the average for all occupations according to the Sept 2022 Data Scientists’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. 

Sekura’s roadmap for 2023 and beyond leans on our expertise in mobile data, understanding its applicability and impact and sees us continuing to innovate and prevent fraud across emerging technologies.

About Sekura Mobile Intelligence Ltd

Working exclusively with Mobile Network Operators, and with coverage across five continents, Sekura Mobile Intelligence www.sekuramobile.com  is the leading global provider of mobile data, providing trusted, secure, and easy-to-consume solutions for ID verification, anti-fraud, and secure online authentication use cases.

Sekura works with established KYC, identity verification and risk data providers who have already integrated into leading global brands with demand for mobile identity solutions. Through the integration of real-time mobile data into our partners’ existing services, Sekura enables them to extend and enhance their customer offerings into new services, use cases and geographies through the adoption of SAFr, our unique single standards-based, mobile intelligence API.