Digital Identity Is Critical In The New World Since Covid

New Zealand cybercrime continues to grow with the government cyber incident tracking agency, CERT, reporting a 14 percent increase in scams and fraud in the last quarter.

Fraud awareness this week is important for raising awareness of the potential risks Kiwis are facing with increased online activity.

This just shows how critical digital identity trust is in a world that is rapidly becoming more digital, Digital Identity New Zealand executive director Colin Wallis says.

Secure digital identities are an important foundation for the digital economy and with so much business, communication and purchases happening online it is more important than ever to be able to trust in peoples digital identity, he says.

“Having a secure, privacy-aware and trustworthy digital identity system will be important for enabling the economy. This is why Digital Identity NZ members are collaborating to provide feedback via the submission process on the government’s proposed digital identity framework.

“We are also hosting a large conference in May next year on digital trust, bringing together experts in digital identity, privacy and security, which are all needed to create trust.”

Digital Identity NZ is a not-for-profit member association in the NZ Tech Alliance. Wallis says it is working to create a country where people can express their identity using validated and trusted digital processes.

Identity fraud has increased a staggering 86 per cent in the last financial year, while investment fraud has risen by 37 per cent over the same period.

A total of 79 percent of New Zealanders are concerned about the protection of their identity and use of personal data by organisations, according to survey commissioned by Digital Identity New Zealand (DINZ).

Walls says there is public concern and some frustration about how their personal data is shared online. Change in behaviour is occurring with 73 percent of Kiwis claiming to have made a change to their online behaviour because of privacy concern.

Their recent survey found 85 percent of respondents said there was a lack of transparency, as well as concern in having to share data with so many organisations.

Additionally, only one in 20 New Zealanders have a fully satisfied experience with registering new accounts. Nine out of 10 New Zealanders find the idea of being more in control of their digital identity appealing.

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