Cross-Border Interoperable Identity System for Developing Countries: What You Need to Know

Table of Links

Abstract & Introduction

Background

Review of Literature

Methodology

Discussion of Findings

Conclusion and Future Work & References

2. Background

2.1 Overview of identity management

According to Luong and Park (2023), an identity management system is useful for managing the identity attributes of users. To establish and prove an identity, such identity must first be created through a well-defined registration process. In a foundational identity management system, such a registration process involves the collection, storage, and usage of identity attributes (World Bank Group, 2016).

The processes of collecting, storing, and using identity attributes are useful for the verification and validation of ID holders whenever they request services from service providers. Relying parties also depend on these identity attributes to authenticate, authorise, and verify ID holders during transactions or access to a system (Kiourtis et al., 2023). Generally, identification is a key prerequisite for development as it provides the pivot for all categories of transactions and service delivery geared towards inclusive economic growth as summarised in Figure 1.

2.2 Trustworthiness in digital identity management

Building robust, secure, and reliable identity management systems is a crucial challenge worldwide. Fathalla et al. (2023) argued that trustworthiness in digital identity management ensures that identification data maintains its integrity, security, privacy, and confidentiality. The consequences of identity fraud or theft are discussed in Hummer and Rebovich (2023); Irvin-Erickson (2023), and Walters (2023). With the increasing rate of attacks on digital identities (Pöhn and Hommel, 2023), privacy concerns are becoming more paramount. To this effect, the use of privacy-preserving technologies that do not reveal the real identities of ID holders is being considered (Luong and Park, 2023; Yin et al., 2022; Tang, Ma, and Cheng, 2023).

Typically, a trustworthy system can be relied upon to authenticate and communicate identity attributes without which such information may not be trusted by identity and service providers including relying parties. When an identity system is compromised, it poses a direct threat to the digital identities of ID holders. Significantly, foundational identity systems must be trustworthy since they are part of a nation’s critical infrastructure that contributes to inclusive economic growth and e-Government.

2.3 Requirements for Interoperability

To achieve the interoperability of foundational identity systems, requirements must be identified at each stage of the identity management process. In this work, we have identified six processes for scoping requirements to achieve a fully functional interoperable identity system in developing countries. These processes include:

i) Identity creation and management

ii) Proof of identity

iii) Creating and issuing a credential

iv) Issuing a derived credential

v) Managing the identity credential lifecycle, and

vi) Granting access to an ID holder.

2.4 Challenges and opportunities of interoperability in the African identity ecosystem

The African identity ecosystem is fragmented with vendor-locked systems that are only accessible within the borders of each country (Gelb and Metz, 2018). One of the challenges of interoperability in this context is the trust issues among African nations including their foundational identity systems (Manda and Backhouse, 2016; Domingo and Teevan, 2022).

Trust is a key consideration to interoperability as government-to-citizen, government-togovernment, government to business interactions are performed over the Internet in an interoperable identity ecosystem. Similarly, the increase in the use of vendor-neutral technologies for the verification and validation of ID holders at cross-border points is envisaged to introduce more security and privacy concerns.

Moreover, cross-border digital trust requires a secure and reliable environment. Connecting identity systems can create more complex environments for conducting digital transactions and interactions across the continent (African Union, 2020). Challenges in infrastructure, and disparities in social structures, norms, and behaviour, also affect the perception of privacy, security, and trust by stakeholders.

Other challenges include advancements in cutting-edge technology that change how personal data is gathered and analysed from various, unrelated sources including consent management for data sharing, the reluctance of various governments to invest in privacy-enhancing technologies, streamline security policies and legislation, and establish new acts for the protection of the privacy and confidentiality of identification data.

Conversely, there are several opportunities for interoperability as it promotes vendor neutrality using common standards in an identity ecosystem.

In the same sense, interoperability enforces data integrity by ensuring that each identity system provides a single source of truth for identification data and reduces identity fraud for e-Government services (The World Bank, 2023b; Domingo and Teevan, 2022). With an interoperable continent-wide identity ecosystem, new markets, digital services, and applications are possible, thus enabling innovation and new use cases to widen the dimensions of e-Government.