State verification in your digital wallet

Unsurprisingly, an operation of such magnitude is pioneering in managing and supporting the ever-changing needs of a digital-first world, but this comes with unique challenges. When asked about the most prominent challenges in the rollout of this pilot, Ajay Gupta replied, “... since the Internet revolution, we have been living in this [digital first] world; as soon as B, 2 B+B, 2 C e-commerce came about.”“With the advent of technology, we must manage both the good and bad sides of virtual identities. So this world we live in, where you'll, you know, upload a copy of a driver's license, or a passport, etc, to verify your identity, and somebody in the back office would manually verify it, or we'll connect to our partners like 3rd party aggregators who get that information. It's quite expensive and error-prone. In general, the physical cards are easy to fake.”“So authentication via digital credentials has been a long time coming. Creating a digital credential that's built for digital transactions. You should be able to share your identity securely when you're online. While enjoying the convenience of the things you carry in your pocket, which is more than your mobile phone and wallet,” continued.“You want your identity verification to be available on that mobile phone, using all the security features native to mobile devices.”“Being able to bind with your biometrics, etc., essentially bridging that gap of the digital and physical world, and creating a product built for digital use with high confidence that there is the person on the other side who is saying they are. You know they're saying who they are, and they are the one or the person saying they're who they are.”Scoop News followed with an exciting question expanding on the roadmap for establishing mobile driver's licenses for you and the State of California.“We are very excited about what we have done so far. We have been doing quite some exciting work in the identity credential space.”“The CA DMV didn't want this to be this thing that's only used by air travel travelers, which is the most popular use case across all the other States who are using mobile travel licenses. We wanted it to be an equitable, inclusive solution. So we divided this journey into privilege, air, travel, daily life, and digital life… our roadmap is on these three categories.”“We are working with the airports and TSA to make sure we lead with the adoption at California airports and also piggyback on TSA's support of other airports so that Californians can travel all across the US needing nothing more than their mobile driver's license in their pocket.”“We created some exciting applications for residents not doing air travel. For example, you can go to a convenience store in California. Select convenience stores right now, but thousands soon enough. We have already rolled out pieces of software with our partners that enable convenience store clerks to use it, but it's a matter of training them and getting them used to it.”“Working with vendors like Clover, Verifone, etc, and with this nonprofit called True Age, where customer can prove their identity. In a fashion that the clerk does not necessarily need to know who you are. All they need to know is you are over 21. So there is a privacy-preserving aspect to it, too. Beyond that. Given that we are in the public sector. My passion is, you know, health and human services as well.” “We have been working on use cases where we can provide just in time. Identity? Proof of identity to on a mobile device, if they have it for disaster, assistance, victims or disaster victims, and also unhoused population who are looking to get services once they have an identity.” concluded.Having the right identity solutions at the center of government modernization is critical. Okta Public Sector CTO, Christine Halverson joined the conversation to share how modern identity is helping support mDL adoption and improving resident experiences.“I think this question goes into everything Ajay just talked about. [The CA DMV] is driving this rollout very well by breaking it down to the used cases. And Okta has really been working with the States who are starting or are in their mobile drivers license journey. And so we're helping to build those digital credentials within the mobile drivers, license, verification, and where we want to continue to support the efforts within the States to ensure that is right, it's secure, there's ease of use, there's flexibility.”Christine emphasized that “identity broker, we're understanding those unique use cases of each State, because each State has their own unique use case. You know, most of it's the same. Some of it's different. And so that we can. You know, we can build into our platform the ability to support the States in achieving the successful outcome that Ajay just talked about. And, as you heard, right, Ajay is definitely a trailblazer here, with the mobile driver's license, and the landscape is continuing to evolve every day. And that's where Octa is continuing to support.”“Okta takes on the role of the verifier in the mobile driver's license life cycle, and we know how important it is to build security from day one especially having that tamper, evident features, and then also building with Openai standards for the flexibility required in deploying mobile driver's license, and even the device association is really important for us."“Additionally, States will need quality controls right around this in the way of governance and compliance, which is also built into a modern identity platform with continuous authentication and security for the goal of ensuring the protection of residents' identity in their mobile driver's license and online.“I live a digital life, like Ajay was just talking about. I unlock my car with my phone. I get on the plane with my phone. I pay for groceries with my phone, among other things. So, my expectations of having those same services provided by the State have increased. And it's where the mobile driver's license meets those expectations, and as a resident using a mobile driver's license in the near future, they will see an improvement and expansion of the resident user experience. [Made possible by] having a frictionless and secure user experience."

As the conversation unfolded, Christine mentioned, "Accessibility for all is really important for us here at Okta, ensuring everybody has access to secure identity solutions. It's definitely a journey we're on, and we're all excited about increasing the better interactions with State governments and their residents in this space.”When asked what are some of the primary challenges for States that are trying to develop the deployment of a mobile driver's license system, Christine stated, “I think the challenges are developing and deploying a mobile driver's license system. Ajay makes it sound so easy. And it's not. It requires complete, correct collaboration between the States and software vendors to build the appropriate tech stack. That will provide everything that's needed, such as security, governance, compliance, and privacy.”“The hardest part is getting started but not getting too far over your skis, as they say. Instead, take the lead from Ajay … He's building security, privacy, and governance into each use case, and then, once each use case shows success he's iterating very quickly on those and expanding to include additional residents and businesses. Okta wants to help States start their journey. We can provide those essential components and be the verifier in your process. We have dedicated resources who can help because we realize the importance of the mobile driver's license in providing more security and essential services to the residents.”

Ajay continued, “There's a lot of collaboration needed, and the journey towards mobile driver licensing is not easy."“On top of that, there are additional standards that are available. So, looking at the market beyond what the US is doing, places like Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Mexico, and others, there are international initiatives around digital credentialing, which we could benefit from.”

“California, DMW Wallet supports multiple standards… And that's because we believe that it creates the best of multiple worlds where you have the best security online and in-person, but also improves the cost of implementation, and that's extremely important.” he continued, “If you want to create an inclusive and equitable marketplace, not just for our holders and consumers, but also for providers and partners, you want to make sure that the cost of ownership is also considered as part of the product that you're releasing because you're essentially pushing this and in a way, monopoling this product into the marketplace… we are the only ones who can issue a driver's license or an ID card. We want to make sure that the technology supporting implementation is inclusive.”The conversation shifted to inclusion, to which Ajay addressed, “The way we get that technology and support needs to be inclusive. We want to make sure we use the right software products that are not biased towards a particular race or gender. The algorithms we use are also inclusive. So some of those things are on top of our minds. But of course, we are very concerned about data, privacy, and security.” Ajay continued, “What happens to the data when we send it to our vendor partners like the native wallet providers, for example? Because it has now left our premises, we have very little control over how it will be used. So having the right protections in place for our residents is the key both via technological and contractual means.”Ajay mentioned that when thinking about setting the proper framework for implementation, he often considers, “How can we make sure that the data is going to be and remain in the right hands? With this digital trail, how do we know vendors won't start creating profiles of our customers, right? Because of the high risk, the CA DMV works very hard to make sure we use the right technology and, really, the most efficient legal protections available for Californians.”He mentioned, for example, “We have the strictest privacy laws in the nation, and we want to make sure that we meet or exceed those requirements for Californians.”

Ajay closed with advice for other States considering starting their journey towards mobile licensing, “I would say, you want to make sure while you want to ride the wave with the digital giants, you [need to] look around to make sure that you are providing [a high level of] service to your customers and constituents. You want to make sure that the technology is not locking you into particular vendors or into a particular platform you want to make sure it remains open,” as Ajay zoomed into neutrality, he mentioned, “I recommend making sure States ensure they have an equitable marketplace for diverse vendors to come in, and that definitely helps the State as well, because a larger marketplace which is not proprietary is going to create a better adoption.”He concluded the conversation by reminding listeners of the complex evolution of mobile banking and what it took to be where we are today. He advised States to think about mobile licensing with a similar lens and mentioned, “It was a long journey, truly, a journey as long as 48 years in the making; this is how long it took for people to start adopting a new form of payment. We want to short-circuit that, but the only way to short-circuit it is to have inclusive standards and the right technology to be used alongside policies that serve our customers. And that's extremely critical.” Ajay concluded.