As more and more of our lives evolve, digital identity has become a hot topic for both tech industries and their consumers. In the digital world, our digital identity is just as important as our real-world identity. It is what to sign up for services, make purchases, and connect with friends and family. Our digital identity used to track our online activity, which can profoundly affect our lives. Therefore, it is crucial to use it wisely and prevent it from unauthorized access. Discover the definition of digital identity and explore ways to safeguard it from identity fraud in this article.
What is Digital Identity, and How Can it Be Misused?
Digital identity is the credentials that everyone has online to verify their identity. It includes your username, password, birth date, and your profile on social media. Your digital identity revolves around two factors:
- Digital activity
- Digital attributes
Your digital activities are the actions that you do online. It can include your purchases, social media accounts, and online banking services. Meanwhile, your digital attributes are the characteristics that identify you online, such as your name, date of birth, and address. Although it’s easy to brush off the topic of digital identity lightly, it is very crucial to safeguard your digital identity as much as you would guard your real-life identity and information.
The rise of identity theft and fraud cases stemming from the misuse of digital identity should cause alarm, especially if you spend most of your time online.
According to a 2021 research by Javelin Study and Research, cybercriminals utilize multiple strategies to target different age demographics. Most of the tactics in the image above exploit the victim’s lack of awareness of the importance of protecting their digital identity from scammers.
People aged 11-24 are more likely to be targeted by social media-based scams. It is an alarming finding on social media since it is harder to distinguish genuine accounts from scam accounts. A scammer may try to lure their victims by posing as their victim’s friend or colleague on social media and send them a phishing link via a personal message that could expose the victim’s credentials to the scammer.
People aged 24-75, on the other hand, are more likely to be targeted by text or call-based scams. It works just like the example above. The only difference is that the credentials are shared with the scammer via text messages or calls.
In both cases, scammers then use the credentials attained to breach the victim’s accounts and access their digital identity information. Once scammers gain access to the victim’s information, the scammers can steal and use the victim’s identity to commit identity fraud.
According to a study, more than half (54%) of fraudulent activities were found online, followed by mobile spam calls (18%). This alarming data highlights the risks of digitization, where scammers move away from traditional methods of breaching data. It also tells us the importance of safekeeping your digital identity from scammers so that you will not fall victim to online fraud.
Fraud Prevention Starts from Yourself
Awareness and education about recent fraud tactics can help familiarize you with how scam operations work and the forms that they can manifest. Aside from fraud awareness, there are also other ways to safeguard your digital identity from scammers. These are:
- Activate multi-factor authentication. Aside from using a strong password, multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account. Multi-factor authentication uses biometric data to prevent unauthorized people from logging into your account. This can be done by implementing an authentication solution.
- Be careful of what you share online. In the digital age, fraudsters may steal data like photos of your ID card, passport, or credit card. So it’s better not to share such information online.
- Avoid using public Wi-Fi or access unsecured websites whenever possible. Public Wi-Fi and unencrypted websites are not always secure. Therefore, using VPN to encrypt your data when using public Wi-Fi or accessing unsecured websites is recommended (secured websites have a lock symbol next to the search bar).
Guide Against Fraud for Businesses
Protecting your customers’ digital information is crucial because misuse of customer data may harm your business’ reputation. Here are the things you can do to protect your customers’ data:
- Use identity verification. Technologies such as digital onboarding and E-KYC can be used to make sure that fraudsters cannot use stolen identities to fraudulently register for your business’ services or make fraudulent purchases.
- Be responsive when a breach occurs. If a breach occurs, it is crucial to be responsive and transparent so your customers can know what they can do next.
- Educate customers on the importance of data safety. Making sure your customers understand that it is not safe to share digital data online. Increase their awareness of issues concerning data safety.
Step Up Your Digital Security With Us
Securing your digital identity is essential. With the rise of social media and the ever-increasing levels of digitization, protecting personal data is paramount. ASLI RI can help you do just that.
ASLI RI is a leading provider of digital identity solutions. We offer complete digital solutions specifically designed for your need, including digital onboarding, E-KYC with biometric verification, and more. Our solutions are designed to help you protect data and comply with regulations. To learn more about our digital solutions, visit www.asliri.id or www.asliri.id/contact to contact our team for product recommendation and demo request.
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Last modified: October 25, 2023
