The idea of identity has significantly changed in the current digital era. People are increasingly leading two lives due to the internet’s pervasive use in daily life: one in the real world and the other in the enormous digital universe. This digital identity includes the considerable range of personal data and information we produce and disseminate online, from social media accounts to online buying preferences. It is crucial to maintain complete control over our digital identities since they affect our personal security, privacy, and independence. In this conversation, we’ll go into the importance of having complete control over your digital identity as well as the profound effects it has on our contemporary lifestyles.

What Is Digital Identity?

A digital identity is the collection of all elements that make up your identity that are stored in digital twins of physical papers. Personal identification numbers, digital signatures, biometric information, login information, and more are all parts of your digital identity. Most of your daily activities probably include using your digital identification, such as shopping online, booking trips, participating in social media, banking, using government services, and anything else that calls for electronic identity verification.

The Decentralised Digital Identity and Self-Sovereignty whitepaper states that in each scenario, our data passes through a proxy service—also referred to as an identity federation service—before it is stored in our wallets. Self-sovereign identity management, also known as user control, removes the proxy and facilitates trust directly from the issuer to the user and the locations where these IDs are displayed.

After providing a basic definition of a digital identity, let’s delve further and comprehend its essential elements.

Components that comprise the digital identity

Personal information:

Your digital identity is built on your personal information. They are the equivalent of your name or date of birth in the virtual world and are the information you use to identify yourself there. These may consist of:

Names
Date of birth
Personal identification numbers
Identifiers and passwords
Email accounts, etc.

These distinctive digital traces you leave behind on the vast internet play a crucial part in defining your own identity. They can be further enhanced with information like biometric data, like fingerprints or facial recognition. Together, they offer a more comprehensive and secure digital identity.

Digital Credentials:

Your digital credentials, which serve as evidence of your identification in the virtual world, are a crucial component of your digital identity. These digital identification credentials are issued by reputable organizations, such as government agencies or financial institutions, to validate your identity and grant access to online services, much like your physical driver’s license or passport. These may consist of:

Digital passports
The national eID
Cellular IDs
driver’s permits
Electronic wallets, etc.

These credentials provide a reliable means of identity verification when connected to your digital identity, providing another level of credibility to your online persona. Certificates can also be used for authentication or authorization (like a digital signature), depending on the kind.

Biometric Identifiers:

The most distinctive and secure type of identifying information currently accessible is a biometric identifier. By offering a trustworthy, non-repudiable method to rapidly and correctly identify people, it has the potential to transform the way that digital identity is used today. Our digital identities can be further protected and trusted by adding biometric data, which may contain particular physical or behavioral characteristics. The following biometric data types are frequently utilized in digital ID systems:

‍Physical biometrics:

Eye structure
Palm print
Hand shape

‍Behavioural biometrics:

Voice recognition
Typed-Key Dynamics
Mouse clicks
Patterns of navigation, etc.

Digital identification systems are currently being made more secure and private overall because of biometrics, which provides a more practical authentication method. For their digital identity management systems, governments and organizations are swiftly adopting biometric technologies.

Digital Behavior:‍

A more dynamic image of your digital persona is created by data points called digital behavior that change due to your online activities. This includes all your online activities, including anything from web browsing to online shopping and financial transactions. These may consist of:

an IP address
location information
details about your operating system and browser
Search history, browsing trends, and other online activities.

When digital behavior is paired with digital IDs, it can be a potent tool for risk management, fraud prevention, and more precise identity verification. To create a thorough profile of a person, organizations can now use this data, thus enhancing the trustworthiness of the digital identity.

Accordingly, when we refer to a “digital identity,” we mean a full, multi-dimensional construct that combines personal identifiers, online activity, digital credentials, distinctive biometric data, and intelligent behavioral analytics. These components work together to create a rich and complex digital portrayal of a person online.

Why Digital Identity Matters

Digital identity is required online since the internet is an unsafe medium for communication. Data is transmitted unsafely unencrypted from server to server over the internet. Using man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, anyone with the necessary skills can intercept, read, or modify the data as they see fit.

Your digital identity is essential for managing access and building a zero-trust infrastructure from a business standpoint. IT managers can use it to link particular access rights to individual users’ accounts and confirm that only those users have access to particular systems or data.

Having complete control of your digital identity matters for several important reasons:

Privacy: It enables you to safeguard your data and uphold your right to privacy in the increasingly linked digital world. Your information could be used against you or made public if it is not under your control.
Security: With complete control, you can put strong security measures in place to protect your online presence, lowering the danger of fraud, identity theft, and cyberattacks.
Data Ownership: Your data is your property, and you can determine how to use, share, or monetize it. This stops tech corporations from using your information for financial gain without your knowledge.
Personalization: By curating your online experience, you can make sure that the services and material you deal with are catered to your preferences as opposed to being determined by algorithms.
Trust: Owning your digital identity encourages trust since it assures others that they are interacting with you and not a fake version of you during online encounters.
Independence: You maintain control over your internet presence because you are not dependent on centralized platforms, which could change their operating principles or go out of business. The capacity to move data and identities between services and platforms with ease fosters competition and innovation in the tech sector.
Avoiding Surveillance: It reduces the possibility of being continuously watched without your knowledge or consent by both businesses and governments.
Reclaiming Rights: By data protection laws like the GDPR, you can exercise your rights, including the right to view your data and the right to be forgotten.
Long-term Relevance: With control, you can maintain the accuracy and relevance of your digital identity by managing and updating it as your life changes.

Conclusion

We now have unmatched connectedness, ease, and information availability thanks to the digital era. However, it has also prompted important queries about who should control and preserve our digital identities. To secure our privacy, uphold our sense of self, and prevent data misuse, we must have complete control over our digital identities. Giving people more control over how their information is shared and used makes people less vulnerable to online threats and other forms of digital manipulation. Understanding and establishing control over our digital identities will continue to be a critical component of our online presence as we traverse the always-changing digital landscape, and it is essential for a safer and responsible digital future.