Amid a shift towards portable digital identity (PDI), Gartner has predicted that at least 500 million smartphone users will be regularly making verifiable claims using a digital identity wallet (DIW) by 2026.

Today, identity verification (IDV) in the form of a user taking a picture of their identity document, like a passport, and then taking a selfie is a go-to method.

However, due to challenges with the traditional IDV model, solutions based on portable digital identity have emerged—and are beginning to mature.

“The market is entering a transition period as PDI solutions are starting to mature, which in the next five years, will reduce the demand for standalone IDV,” explained Akif Khan, VP analyst at Gartner, speaking at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in London this week.

Today’s Identity Verification Challenges
The currently-used IDV model of a user being asked to do the ID-plus-selfie process repeatedly is not ideal, Gartner said, with Khan further adding that: “The processes in place today are focused and limited to core identity data (name, date of birth, address etc.).

“As more and more processes move online, there is a need to tie many other attributes to a user’s identity, such as educational or workplace qualifications, proof of employment, not to mention healthcare data.”

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PDI Solutions Replacing Repeated IDV?
A PDI is best defined as a digital identity that contains all the necessary attributes for identifying someone in the digital world. PDI also means that the user maintains some level of control over security and privacy.

The principle of PDI is that the user proves their identity with a trusted entity, and once authenticated, it is recorded as an identity assertion. That identity assertion is either stored with the party that verified their identity (centralised model) or saved in a DIW on their smartphone (decentralised model).

Decentralised models offer the benefit of using verifiable credentials, which allow users to make assertions without revealing more data than they need to—for instance, proving that you are over 18 years of age without sharing your date of birth.

Governments across the world are already taking action. The European Commission (via eIDAS Regulation) will require all EU member states to make a DIW available to citizens by 2026. However, many vendor products are available today that enable organisations to benefit from PDI for targeted use cases, too.

Speaking on how PDI solutions can be implemented in the workplace, Khan suggested that “CISOs can use a readily available decentralized identity wallet product and issue it to their employees. The wallet could then be integrated into their employee onboarding, account recovery and IT help desk workflows. This is ultimately improving security by introducing strong authentication and improving UX by removing the need for repeated IDV.”