Description:

This week’s guest is the Identity Jedi, David Lee. David is an Enterprise Architect and thought leader with nearly 20 years of experience in Identity and Access Management, Business Development, and Solution Architecture. David and Richard discuss the biases identity management decision-makers have when it comes to diversity, the consequences that can come with fast-paced software delivery, the future of digital anonymity, and the importance of having difficult conversations around diversity inclusion.

Key Takeaways:

[1:38] David discusses his background in tech and incidental journey in Identity and Access Management.

[4:32] Sending all business digital due to the pandemic has caused a new crop of problems. Including the many concerns relative to diversity inclusion as it relates to digital identity.

[8:03] The biggest problem when it comes to digital identity is access. Decision-makers often don’t consider the technological challenges others face because they have always had access.

[13:15] There is an intersection of ethics and civic responsibility when it comes to identity. There is no discipline for software engineers when it comes to identity and privacy due to the pace at which they are expected to build, but this will likely change due to liabilities and regulation.

[19:06] A potential side effect of the future of identity management could be a lack of anonymity. This exposes that gray area around allowing free speech while maintaining the right to privacy, and who should have access to authentication and verification.

[23:28] The technology exists to be able to create accountability models as it pertains to identity and to reduce misinformation. The challenge is having uncomfortable conversations to address the issues surrounding diversity.

[26:24] Right now, online anonymity is binary rather than the user having the ability to selectively decide.

[29:23] Tech companies made decisions about identity without thinking about user choice.  Older generations are more apt to have concerns about this lack of privacy and anonymity.

[32:48] The demand for faster comes with a set of consequences. The same issues we encounter around diversity in analog will present themselves digitally if we do not address them.

Quotes:

• “For some reason, we get introduced to the identity componentry and it becomes like a bag of chips. We can’t eat just one.”
• “For the vast majority of companies, nobody had a business continuity plan that said, ‘I’m going to send 100% of my people home.’”
• “There’s a room full of middle-aged white men who are controlling the narrative for billions of people.”
• “Is it going to be built with access for everybody in mind?”
• “We talk about data privacy regulations, but we don’t talk about protecting the user.”
• “Some anonymity provides protection.”
• “Challenge everything."

Mentioned in This Episode:

David Lee on Twitter

Identity Jedi

Ping Identity

In the second episode of Hello User, Richard is joined by identity security expert Andre Durand.  Andre is the founder and CEO of Ping Identity as well as founder of the Cloud Identity Summit.  They discuss the current state of digital identity security and how the pandemic may accelerate the changes needed to shape the future of digital identity security.

Key Takeaways:

[1:26] During the pandemic we digitized so many aspects of our economy without focusing on one of the most important parts; identity.

[3:07] There is a complexity to who we are online; and it’s not solely based on our own projections and declarations.

[6:20] How your digital employment identity differs from your consumer identity. 

[9:21] Currently third parties have much more control over digital identity than the individuals.

[10:45] With so many players rushing to enter the digital identity space, how we can sift through the noise.

[13:41] How shifting control of digital identity to the individual will dramatically change our current identity and access management systems.

[16:48] One of the biggest objections to changing how identity security is user behavior, but people’s behavior during the pandemic has shattered those notions.

[18:17] The mobile phone is one of the most powerful digital identity devices.

[20:00] Identity for individuals might progress in the future to create a better, more secure experience with companies.

[20:44] Outside of the user experience, companies are most concerned with the cost of fraud.

[22:24] Why identity verification is paramount.

Quotes:

• “As we’ve experienced during the pandemic, tremendous amounts of our economy have been able to move into digital pathways. The one thing that we forgot to move was people.”
• “Water always finds the path of least resistance and humans tend to find the path of least resistance, as well.”
• “You own your identity, but others own the verified record of your behavior.”
• “In some abstract way, we are the aggregate of all of our interactions with third-parties.”
• “If you wanted to know the totality of our behavior, it probably exists somewhere in the digital exhaust of the identity management systems of all the companies we interact with.”
• “The weakest link within national cybersecurity infrastructure right now is the ability to confirm that someone is who they say they are.”
• “We’ve come up with terms for identity that are absent the individual.”
• “Fraud costs money.”
• “The house of cards of strong identity cannot be built upon weak identity verification.”

Mentioned in This Episode:

Andre Durand

Ping Identity

This week, Richard is joined by Eva Velasquez. Eva is the President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity and cybercrimes. Eva discusses where she sees the biggest problems in identity theft today as well as the long-term and domino effects it has on both the victims and essentially all of us.

Key Takeaways:

[1:19] There is no such thing as a victimless crime when it comes to identity theft and fraud.

[2:29] The Identity Theft Resource Center has been a nonprofit victim services organization for 20 years. They offer free and comprehensive services to victims of identity theft.

[4:10] The process for victims to be made whole is inherently failed. They are often left both financially and emotionally damaged.

[6:01] This year, 10% of people reported feeling suicidal due to identity crimes.

[7:20] Richard has a very strong attachment and reaction to the way corporations handle identities due to the emotional harm caused when his wife passed away.

[9:03] The problem with having all of this information harvested about our identities and then having that data poorly managed, is that it never goes away.

[10:10] The more data we add to the identity verification and authentication process, the more we increase our risk.

[11:11] Identity crimes can have long-term and lifetime effects; even children are at risk.

[15:22] Historically, the risks and consequences from companies aggregating data on our identities, fall back onto the individual. Some will even capitalize on fixing their mistakes.

[17:19] There’s an immediate need for organizations to be more responsible in managing identity. Eva wants the government to step it up, as this area accounts for the biggest losses.

[22:09] The massive and long-term consequences of widespread unemployment benefits fraud; especially during the pandemic.

[30:23] People should have the right to be able to confirm that they are who they say they are; we have this in person but not when it comes to digital identity. The solution needs to fall more on corporations and government, and not on the individual user.

Quotes:

• “Just because a bank makes you whole because of a fraud committed against your account, doesn’t mean that it was victimless.”

• “There’s a person behind every single one of those data points and those fraud rates, and they need to have a voice.”

• “When you look at how we use identity credentials and how we use them in authentication and verification, it is so pervasive now.”

• “It’s only within the extreme examples that we see all the true fractures and breaks in the process that caused these types of things.”

• “Right now the single biggest problem that we’re looking at, with the fraud losses in the billions, is through government benefits.”

• “These are real costs, these are real consequences to human lives.”

• “A human being should have the right to be able to confirm that they are who they say they are.”

• “The first step in solving any problem is identifying that you have one.”

Mentioned in This Episode:

Identity Theft Resource Center

Ping Identity

We understand identity as who we are. It’s the ID card in our pocket. It’s a set of personal characteristics. It’s our family name. 

But in the digital world, identity has evolved far beyond its old definitions. It’s the way we consume products. Our ability to vote. Our financial security. Digital identity can be created quickly, accessed broadly and even stolen...easily. And it doesn’t just live online. 

Welcome to Hello, User: the podcast that covers modern identity across every facet of our lives, from personal to public to professional.

Let’s explore the way our digital identities create our world—and not the other way around. Subscribe to Hello, User here today to receive notifications when a new episode is released.