A single solution to ID theft

Identity theft is without doubt the most widely discussed security problem today.

Banks, government, retailers and ecommerce providers are increasingly active in finding ways to tackle this thoroughly modern challenge. Initiatives are springing up all over the place. So much so, it is becoming reminiscent of a famous quote about IT standards – the good thing is, there are so many to choose from.

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) this week launched a service that makes it the first UK bank to offer two-factor authentication to all its online banking customers. But you have to be an A&L account holder.

Banking industry body Apacs is aiming for a common, portable device that could be used by finance firms as well as online retailers. But this depends on industry-wide agreement and would likely be restricted to UK-based providers.

And the government wants the private sector to consider its biometric ID card as a means for proving identity in commercial transactions.

Of course, with all these different ways to prove your identity comes the fear that more methods provide more options for criminals to target.

As one of our readers pointed out this week, needing two separate devices to authenticate your identity online is at least one too many.

We are going through a cycle that has happened too often with technology, and unfortunately shows every sign of continuing.

The development of IT standards has been characterised by firms first coming out with their own solution to a problem. Eventually, all the suppliers come together and, following months in committees, reach an agreement on a common standard. By which time, the world has often moved on.

All the while, the poor consumer is left bewildered.

This is not to criticise the work being done by Apacs and others on tackling identity theft – these are all good initiatives.

But government and industry need to learn from the past and work together from the start. We only have one identity, we need one solution.

What do you think? Email us at: feedback@computing.co.uk