Mobile ID Card for Public Officials by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety #UsingOmniOne #DID #MOIS
How to apply Decentralized Identity in the real world? Why should you consider to implement DID (Decentralized Identifier) specification when building your identity infrastructure? What are the benefits expected in your daily life when using a DID-based digital ID card?
The #UsingOmniOne series will answer these questions by focusing on services that have been built on the top of OmniOne.
In this post, let’s review an application of OmniOne that is regularly receiving praises from the Korean government: the Mobile ID Card for public officials.
Existing authentication and identification processes can provide several challenges in a working environment. Physical cards provide an easy way to access offices through entrance gates but how to be sure that the person using the card is its holder? When getting access to your working environment, how often do you need to input your credentials (such as ID/passwords) before being able to actually work? Even worse, the more the industry where you working for is sensitive, the more there will be authentication processes, often cumbersome and time-wasting.
Seeking a solution to these challenges, the Korean government recently declared that it will open the era of mobile identification card (Mobile ID) so that individuals can prove who they say they are securely and conveniently.
The concept of Mobile ID refers to a digital ID card enabling its holders (or users) to be verifiable online and offline. The Mobile ID leverages a digital wallet collecting digital credentials that are stored in the secure element of the holder’s device (e.g., smartphone). The particularity of Mobile ID relies on the use of the Decentralized Identifier (DID) technology, empowering Mobile ID’s users to realize Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI).
What is a DID? This is a type of identifier allowing verifiable, decentralized digital identity. “A DID identifies any subject (e.g., a person, organization, thing, data model, abstract entity, etc.) that the controller of the DID [i.e., you] decides that it identifies.1” It can be seen as a passport number or a driver license number, except that you are the only one who controls it and that it does not identify yourself (at least directly). DID can be linked with a DID document providing references to Verifiable Credentials enabling you to make claims without over disclosing your personal information. Combined with blockchain, DID enables users to manage and control their personal information that are only stored on their devices.
Before deploying the DID-based Mobile ID on a large scale, the Korean government set up a multi-step plan as reflected below aiming at performing the deployment in a progressive manner.
As the first step toward the digitization of Korean identity systems, the Mobile ID Card for public officials has been developed and is operated since January 2021. This Mobile ID applies DID technology through OmniOne, the blockchain-based DID platform developed by RAON. In particular, OmniOne has been selected for deploying the DID technology to the Mobile ID developed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS). The MOIS is the branch of the Government of South Korea, responsible for national administration, management of government organizations, and e-government.
When the MOIS looked for a technology to build the Mobile ID Card for public officials, Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) was one of the main criteria that the selected technology had to enable. The main purpose of developing SSI-friendly technology-based Mobile ID was to enhance privacy by design by eliminating public officials’ concerns about privacy that may occur in the process of using their ID cards.
What is SSI? This is the concept that aims at giving users control back over their identity. While this idea seems to be quite utopian, we technically have the ability to makes it possible by for example, enabling identity owners to store their personally identifiable information on their own device, so their data are not stored on central servers controlled by independent entities.
With the deployment of OmniOne, the Mobile ID’s user experience has been greatly enhanced as the public officials can easily get access to their working environments without having to use an administrative digital signature or entering a password. In addition, public officials can receive, manage and use claims without over disclosing their personal information while controlling their personal information as the latter are stored in their personal device, not in a central server. Eventually, they can also track their personal data usage history. In other words, OmniOne enables Mobile ID’s users to realize their SSI while providing them with an enhanced level of security and convenience. In addition, applying DID-based platform OmniOne enables Korean government to lay the groundwork for the development of a trustworthy digital identity.
The Mobile ID Card is now in use by a part of the public officials in Korea. Public officials working at Sejong City and Seoul Office can now obtain a DID-based Mobile ID via a government smartphone app, and use it to access to their offices, log in to their working environments, borrow books and issue and submit employment certificates. As of January 2021, 1995 Mobile ID Cards have already been issued in 9 public departments.
Please have a look at the video below to have a more precise idea on how the OmniOne-based Mobile ID works.
In terms of roadmap, the Korean government plans to expand the issuance of DID-based mobile ID cards to public officials in Gwacheon City and Daejeon City while promoting future public service. In this regard, the service will soon be extended to over 200,000 government officials. Next step will be to issue it to over 960,000 public officials, including officials of central government agencies and public teachers.
The Mobile ID Card service for public officials is only the first part of the multi-step plan established by the government that aims at rolling out other physical ID cards (e.g., Driver’s License, Disability ID, etc.) in digital credentials. Already in use, Mobile ID has received praises from a variety of Ministries, providing a potential clue in the future adoption of decentralized identity in the digitization of government-issued ID cards.
“While maintaining public confidence in the issuance of ID cards, the government does not intervene in the verification process and in the personal use. We are very pleased that the user’s privacy is fully respected.” (Ministry of the Interior and Safety)
At RAON, we are happy to help the Korean government in its digitization plan. As a leading ICT company, RAON will continue to support the government in its journey of providing Mobile ID for the whole nation. We would also be glad to support overseas governments in their transition to a digital identity system and to share best practices with institutions looking for modernizing their identity infrastructures in a privacy-by-design manner.
Stay tuned for understanding how OmniOne can be deployed in other use cases 😊
