Identity Management Challenges

By Milica D. Djekic

There are a plenty of methods to determine someone’s identity and the most convenient cases are through fingerprint, iris detection, DNA and so on, while some of those indicators have become part of the biometrics IDs which serve in accurately being confident about who someone is, so far. On the other hand, the IDs can be counterfeited and in such a manner, it is obvious that as the Interpol suggested recently will be needed to confirm someone’s identity using a fingerprint reader on the borders or simply doing biometrics tracking via data search technologies applying as a criterion of the crawling some biometrics parameter being included into passport or identification card of some ID holder. In other words, some of the critical asset services could be subscribed using a counterfeit document and in such a case, it is needed to track those biometrics identity parameters within the Police register to see if there that document could serve for travelling or most likely some of those data being provided through such an ID could be entered into some banking, telecommunication or internet account giving a space to the offenders to create an account within such an infrastructure letting chance to the majority of them to be tracked in a cyber sense. What is needed in that fashion is to confirm some data and mainly a registration number of the fake document with that field among some of such created accounts and if it is caught that someone is with such a subscription account with, say, a cellular phone it is clear that once a mobile device is emitting its signal the trace will be uncovered easily and that bad actor will be located searching hard for all such contacts within that network. Also, if some data search within the law enforcement is run those who have paid to get into the Police database will just be uncovered and their whereabout will be known to the authorities giving an option to start a case in order to prove and arrest those threats, so far, leading the investigation to a quite effective and less cost-consuming direction.

The biometrics documents have been invoked a couple of decades ago, but their reliability is yet under a question mark as there is chronically a big deal of the corruption within a system as those sitting in decision-making spots cannot reject a bribe. There are, indeed, some techniques to combat corruption within a community, but there are still heaps of challenges that should be overcome. The new time brings some hope that once everyone gets a situational awareness about the possible risks some of those threats could be mitigated leaving an opportunity for many to recognize and contribute in fighting bad guys, so far. At a very beginning of the preparation and introducing the biometrics documents many have believed that could be a silver bullet which can shoot all the ongoing problems as from this perspective, it seems that some ideas from the past are yet good, but it is needed to make a plenty of adjustments for the times that come in order to manage some tomorrow’s security challenges. In other words, it’s not enough to develop some defense program which will support in fighting a current threat, it’s needed to do a lot of patching and updating in order to keep a step with a tendency as those who have built this world are the smart guys and they can resolve so many of that, but they cannot always accurately predict what the future will bring. That’s something that will be left to science and mostly technology as those two branches of the humankind activities must deal with a high accuracy offering something that will be operable for real.

Apparently, in order to get an access to any critical infrastructure it is needed to leave some personal information from some either true or fake ID as such a way of the identification is necessary to create that sort of the user’s account, so far. Therefore, in a case of the banking system which also belongs to the ICT facility it is possible to show either true or fake document in order to manage some finances. All those banking accounts being open applying a counterfeited ID are the members of the dark finances which should be imagined as a root of the iceberg going deeply below a surface of the frozen water. In addition, it is not a wrong idea at all to attempt to confirm someone’s web accounts as those sorts of the assets also cope with some information such as contact details like e-mail address or cell phone number, so some kind of the trace could be found looking within that sort of the online systems, so far. In other words, if anyone using a visible web has dealt with a protected e-mail address that high-tech item will be created leaving a plenty of the information which could be correlated with someone’s mobile object number and once the authorities get that identification code they will know how to confirm who is behind such an analytical piece of the information as even being opened on the fake ID the whereabout of the lawbreaker will be assessed and everything will be pushed through an identification procedure. Getting anything via fake IDs is a fraud and that sort of the criminal justice offense is recognized by the Criminal Code anywhere across the globe. Also, it’s truly feasible locating someone waiting for a login event as in such a case, the Police can check out the entire surrounding of that threat scanning all activated devices within such a place and if not being activated at that moment it is always possible searching a history of those GPS coordinates, so far.

Finally, it is obvious why skill and knowledge of the cyber security is very needed among the criminal or even violation investigation and why those sorts of findings and evidence must play a crucial role in combating crime and terrorism, as well as doing some kind of the identity management over the high-tech spots.

About The Author           

Milica D. Djekic is an Independent Researcher from Subotica, the Republic of Serbia. She received her engineering background from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade. She writes for some domestic and overseas presses and she is also the author of the books “The Internet of Things: Concept, Applications and Security” and “The Insider’s Threats: Operational, Tactical and Strategic Perspective” being published in 2017 and 2021 respectively with the Lambert Academic Publishing. Milica is also a speaker with the BrightTALK expert’s channel. She is the member of an ASIS International since 2017 and contributor to the Australian Cyber Security Magazine since 2018. Milica’s research efforts are recognized with Computer Emergency Response Team for the European Union (CERT-EU), Censys Press, BU-CERT UK and EASA European Centre for Cybersecurity in Aviation (ECCSA). Her fields of interests are cyber defense, technology and business. Milica is a person with disability.