As a part of the EU's cybersecurity strategy aimed at enhancing Europe's resilience against cyber threats, the EU unveiled a forthcoming regulation in April 2024. This regulation mandates each member state to establish a digital identity wallet by 2026, accessible to all citizens and compatible with electronic identification wallets from other member states. The primary objective is to foster transparency and trust in a secure manner.
Mandating the creation of a digital identity Wallet by each member state by 2026, this regulation represents a pivotal stride towards fortifying digital security infrastructure across the European Union. This digital Wallet initiative seeks to empower European citizens making it possible to have full access and control over their personal data.
Navigating the challenges of combining online transparency and trust:
The digital world we’re living in today is generating a huge amount of value, however it has also left us with the main challenges of being in control of our data. Also in the matter of being able to trust and verify that not only people but also things we see on the internet and other digital platforms are actually real.
And with AI as a new player, it has become even less transparent, and less trustworthy and therefore even more difficult.
Moreover, with AI in the game, it introduces a new layer of complexity, creating concerns surrounding transparency and trustworthiness in digital ecosystems. As AI algorithms increase rapidly it makes it even harder to detect online fraud.
In essence, the EU's Digital Identity Wallet regulation represents a decisive step towards establishing a transparent and trustworthy digital environment. By giving individuals greater control over their personal data and filling digital transactions with enhanced authenticity, this initiative charts a course towards a more secure and resilient digital future for European citizens.
Verifiable Credentials: Trustworthy information attested to by Issuers
At Partisia, a Danish based software development company, they’re providing a software called Decentralised Identity. The product solves the challenge of the EU Digital Identity Wallet where the user is in complete control of the activation of their data by consent and privacy-preserving computations, enabling controlled use of data on the internet and other digital platforms.
Central to the Partisia Decentralised Identity (using the Partisia Platform) is the ability for any individual to use their verified identity data in a self-sovereign manner while minimizing the privacy loss related to this usage.
This software will make it possible to create a Wallet, where the user can provide “need to know” information about themselves, such as “above 18”, “Vaccinated” or “Citizen of a given country” etc. without the user losing control over their own data. The transparent and trustworthy conversion of the detailed Verifiable Credentials into “need to know” is enabled by the cryptographic tools built into the Partisia Platform.
EU and Japan in a digital partnership
At the end of April, EU introduced their collaboration with Japan on Digital Identity with the main goal of fostering e-commerce, boosting efficiency, and ensuring secure and resilient Digital Infrastructures.
This partnership fits perfectly into the Partisia product within Decentralised Identity where the Partisia Platform allows confidential use of private data linked to a person with consent. The first step of activating My Data is the small pieces of high-quality information that comes with Verifiable Credentials, which are by definition private and can be activated in a privacy-preserving form.
The CEO and CPO of Partisia express their satisfaction with the progress overseas, bringing them closer to their ultimate goal.
Want to know more about our product?
Read our Light paper, where we dive further into the principals of 'Partisia Decentralised Identity' and how it solves the challenges of maintaining both transparency and trust when using verifiable credentials through a digital Wallet.
