What is Digital Identity? | Avast
The concept of digital identity is fairly new and might sound complex, but it’s pretty easy to grasp. What’s more, most of us have one and it’s a lot more valuable than you think.
Imagine a more trusted world where you have complete control over your digital identity. This is the future we’re building
Do you know where your digital identity exists?
Most of us would struggle to list all of the places our personal information is stored online. On average we manage over 150 accounts and passwords each, with everything from financial information to sensitive health records existing in countless databases all over the world. Data breaches have become increasingly common and costly, and as a result identity fraud is on the rise.
This needs to change.
This needs to change.
Your digital identity. In your own hands
Avast envisions a future where we are in control of our data and can navigate our digital world with confidence. A future where proving who we are is as simple as it is in the physical world; where we can verify and trust who’s on the other end of a phone call or digital interaction; and where we know that our data will always be safe, private, and secure.
Our commitment to you
Today’s online world requires us to share our personal information with countless websites, apps, and digital services. The more we engage, the more possibilities emerge for us to access and explore new online experiences. But to do so, we’re often sharing our personal information with little control over how or where it’s used. We’re lacking a digital trust framework for our interactions.
Avast believes everyone has the right to use the internet with confidence that their data is safe, private, and under their control. Built using Privacy by Design principles, our digital trust services protect your personal information in a way that nobody, not even us, can ever see or use without your consent. By providing the tools to help people realize their digital freedom, we’re empowering them to make their own decisions about what they share online and who they share it with.
Avast’s digital trust principles
These principles guide our decisions as we build and design services that put you at their core. It’s your right to have total control over your digital identity. Our solutions are anchored in Privacy By Design principles to ensure that you, and only you, can access your identity data.
User-centric
You have sole control over your identity data. No one should have to sacrifice their privacy in exchange for access to online services.
Simple
Using your data online should be simple and intuitive. Our solutions will be built to fit around how you live your life.
Ecosystem-agnostic
Our services are independent and agnostic. Everything we build will work across any combination of device, ecosystem and platform.
Free for users
We believe everyone should have free access to tools that empower them to take control of their data and their identity.
Inclusive and accessible
The solutions we’re developing are for everyone, including the 1 billion people who aren’t currently recognized with a legal identity.
Interoperable
The solutions we’re building must work seamlessly no matter where you are globally, and apply across multiple use cases.
Open and standard
We collaborate with the best technology partners around the world and design to open industry standards to build solutions that scale.
Portable
You should be able to share your data with anyone, anywhere – on your terms. It shouldn’t be locked up in some silo or centralized database.
Verifiable
It’s not enough that our data is private and secure. To enable true digital freedom, it must also be trusted, verified, and tamperproof.
Transforming how we live, work and play
Imagine faster, safer shopping experiences, where you’ll pay for services using your own instantly-verifiable identity. Digital identity solutions have the power to transform our daily lives—making our online interactions more convenient, private and secure.
From shopping, to traveling, applying for a bank account, buying a home, confirming your student or pensioner status, and more. Not only will you be able to prove who you are instantly, across any service—you’ll also be able to verify and trust in the legitimacy of that service.
Avast digital trust FAQs
What is a digital identity?
Your digital identity is a digital representation of who you are. It lets you prove who you are during interactions and transactions, both online and in person. It can include things like your name, date of birth, email and physical address, certifications, qualifications and other attribute information.
What does decentralized identity mean?
Decentralized identity is an identity system that gives individuals the ability to hold, control, and share their data, putting them at the center of their digital world.
What does Privacy by Design mean and why is it so important for digital identity services?
Privacy by Design is a framework based on proactively embedding privacy in the design of new products and services. It gives people greater transparency when it comes to their personal identity data while protecting their privacy.
Privacy is a core value for Avast, and a responsibility we take seriously. Learn more about our commitment to protecting it.
Why is decentralized identity so important?
Whenever we interact online, we’re asked to provide credentials that validate who we say we are. Once shared, our private information is out of our control, sitting in centralized systems and databases around the world.
Avast envisions a decentralized model where you are in control of your identity, and where everyone is able to decide what they share online and who they share it with.
What are verifiable credentials?
The tangible credentials we all use—driver’s licenses, passports, birth certificates, car titles, and plane tickets, for example—are now being re-imagined as digital files. We can carry these digital credentials on smartphones, index and search them, back them up, and make perfect copies of them on demand.
But while digital records are nothing new, today’s credentials come with certain ‘cryptographic superpowers’ that make them tamperproof, secure, and verifiable. A digital verifiable credential is one that has been issued by a trusted authority for, and only for, its holder.
What does decentralized identity mean for organizations?
Decentralized identity enables organizations to build smarter and more secure digital relationships with their customers. This enables better security and privacy, streamlined KYC and account onboarding, passwordless log-in, one-tap checkout, and a frictionless user experience.
This technology is available to organizations through Avast’s acquisition of Evernym, a leader in enterprise-grade decentralized identity technology. To learn more about what this could mean for your organization, visit www.evernym.com or contact us at identity@avast.com.
More from Avast on the future of digital trust
EWC and EUDI wallet: Helping individuals protect their online identity
The EWC pilot will focus on the use of the EU Digital Identity Wallet in the context of travel – such as providing passenger information, buying goods and services, and trusted business to business interactions.
Online identity theft: Protecting yourself is easier than you think
Here are five tips for protecting yourself from identity theft online.
Avast commits to becoming a founder of the OpenWallet Foundation
As a first step, Avast joins the newly formed Linux Foundation Europe as an inaugural member.
Enabling Global-Scale Digital Trust | Avast
Avast joins several prominent digital trust and identity organizations to help people regain control of their digital identities and data.
eIDAS 2.0 Developments | Avast
eIDAS 2.0 continues to move swiftly. Avast recently teamed up with the Intesi Group to co-host a webinar discussing the latest developments of the effort.
DIDs approved to W3C recommendation
Yesterday, the W3C approved Decentralized Identifiers as a new web standard. Here's what it means for digital freedom.
Money20/20: Talking digital identity and the rise of embedded finance
If we are to create better digital trust for everyone, we need to work out how to better embrace and embed digital ID, not just into money and payments, but also into our regular interactions.