Monthly Archives: January 2019

Spotlight on Entersekt

Meet Entersekt

  1. What is the mission and vision of Entersekt?

Entersekt’s vision is of a world where everyone can interact and transact digitally without fear. In 2008, Entersekt launched the very first out-of-band, mobile push-based transaction authentication product in the world. Since then we’ve continued to innovate, and today millions of people across the world use our products daily to secure their online banking, mobile banking, online shopping, and corporate networks.

Entersekt’s mission is to be the preferred fintech partner for bringing financial service providers and their users closer together. We enable our customers with secure, privacy-enhanced, user-centric solutions that allows them to maintain a high degree of trust with their customers. With that foundation of trust, consumer adoption of lower-cost digital channels increases, while increasing the ability for the organization to offer more high-value services across those channels.

2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?

In today’s world, customer engagement and intimacy, built on trust, have become key differentiators for organizations. Unfortunately, in existing markets, the amount of personal data that has been compromised due to breaches makes it difficult for any organization to know that they are dealing with a real person, and that the person on the other side of an interaction is actually who they claim to be. In emerging markets, identity is critical for social and economic advancement. Often however, an authoritative registry of individuals does not exist, which can complicate the identity proofing and corroboration process.

These factors highlight the need for a robust and scalable digital identity framework, since it’s more important than ever for organizations to be able to validate and engage with end-users securely. If this can be done efficiently, a world of potential can be unlocked where, for example, consumers can be allowed to engage in self-service activities, which can lower costs, enable new products and ultimately create better value propositions for both consumers and organizations.

3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does Entersekt address challenges associated with this transformation?

Digital identity and interoperability are key to transforming and enabling any digital economy. With a trusted and secure digital identity, organizations will finally be able to move from legacy and physical processes over to digital, thereby reducing costs and improving the level of service . In addition, interoperable solutions can potentially allow for new lines of business and innovative products and services to be made available to the global market.

Entersekt provides organizations with the ability to accurately identify and authenticate users across the omni-channel via a convenient, secure, and privacy-enhanced user experience. Strong authentication is not only about telling the good guys from the bad. It helps to foster and maintain trust between organizations and their customers, allowing businesses to accelerate consumer adoption of their lower-cost digital channels while building on the foundation of trust.

4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in the space?

The benefits of a successful digital identity ecosystem are well-documented: cost savings, fraud reduction, improved regulatory compliance, and enhanced privacy are only some of the advantages identified. As a highly-developed country of technology-savvy citizens comfortable with a range of digital interactions, Canada is already establishing itself as a global thought leader in digital identity.  The added support that Canada’s public and private sector bring to the table as demonstrated through organizations such as DIACC, the willingness of stakeholders to be part of the process, as evidenced through numerous POCs in market, and the openness to transparency and collaboration are all crucial factors contributing to making Canada a leader in this space. The Canadian economy at large will ultimately benefit from the final outcome of these activities, while the global economy will benefit from the lessons it can learn from Canada’s leadership in this space.

5. Why did Entersekt join the DIACC?

At Entersekt, we believe that developing a national trust framework and digital identity ecosystem is the future, and we recognize the value of a digital identity ecosystem that prioritizes security, scalability, and transparency. As a company where the utmost security has always been the foundation of everything we do, the principles of a digital identity ecosystem for Canada, as set out by the DIACC, truly resonates with us. Joining the DIACC helps us play a part in this ecosystem, and provides a platform for us to share our global experience, and learn with fellow stakeholders as we work towards solving global issues across the digital domain.

6. What else should we know about Entersekt?

Entersekt’s mobile app security and authentication technology is used in more than 45 countries across the world to protect tens of millions of consumers as they transact over the Internet, via mobile devices, or by using other self-service channels. We provide organizations 100% certainty regarding the devices they are interacting with, and based on that certainty we can deliver outstanding user experiences. Entersekt is GDPR, PSD2, PCI DSS and MiFiD compliant.

Profiles in Leadership: Marc Brouillard

Marc Brouillard, Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada

In this new series, we are shining a light on DIACC Directors, who work to drive the digital economy forward in Canada. Meet Marc Brouillard, Chief Technology Officer for the Government of Canada. 

  1. Why are you (and your organization) committed to advancing digital identity Canadians can use with confidence? 

TBS is leading the Government of Canada’s OneGov vision, with the goal of enabling citizens to access any service (e.g. passport renewal, tax filing) on any device (e.g. smartphone, voice assistants, cars) on any platform (e.g. Google, Expedia) with any partner (e.g. provinces/territories, private sector, academia).  Digital identity is a foundational and enabling component to this vision. We are committed to digital identity because it is a key enabler and starting point for the digital transformation of our services to Canadians.

2.  How important is digital identity in the context of Canada’s economic and societal growth? 

It’s extremely important and foundational to our OneGov vision. Within the public sector, digital identity is crucial in ensuring the integrity of programs, increasing the efficiency of delivering services and improving the overall experience of interacting with government for Canadians. However, within the private sector, digital identity plays an even more important role: it can reduce overall transaction friction and play a role in multiplying benefits enabled by innovative business models and new investment opportunities which contribute to overall economic growth and benefits for Canadians.

3.   When it comes to strategy, how do you see Canada as taking a lead in comparison to other regions? 

The Government of Canada is looking closely at what other countries have done with digital identity and is applying lessons learned from their experiences to its approach. Some countries have implemented mandatory national identity card schemes, but Canada’s approach will be federated in nature. Rather than mandating a single centralized identity, Canada’s vision is to enable an individual to use any trusted digital identity of their choice to access high-value services.  Trust will be established and verified through the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF), a public-private partnership designed to establish common rules across the country to validate the trustworthiness of the various digital identities and enable interoperability across jurisdictions.

4.  What do you predict for the future of digital identity in the next year? 

Technology is rapidly changing and new capabilities are emerging on the horizon. I am hoping for some pleasant surprises. We are monitoring very closely the developments in self-sovereign identity, blockchain and digital wallets. We are seeing innovative solutions being proposed by many vendors. It’s too early to tell which will be the winners, but we want to ensure that we can weave the innovation into a standards-based ecosystem that will accelerate our own digital service delivery.  


5.  What digital identity issues do you see as important that need more attention? 

The biggest challenge is trust and adoption. Will Canadians actually trust the digital identity solutions available to them? Will they actually understand how to use and integrate these solutions into their everyday lives? We need to pay close attention to how we build the trusted solutions and how Canadians feel about these solutions.

6.  How important is public and private collaboration in the effort to advance digital identity and what role(s) might each sector play?

The digital identity space is a rapidly changing environment and, as identity increasingly moves from a paper to the digital world, the lines between the public and the private sectors are blurring. Public and private collaboration is especially important as we collectively adapt to disruptive technologies that are changing the landscape of identity. As a government, we need to ensure that there is a fair, competitive marketplace for the private sector to thrive, but we also need to fill gaps for services that only the public sector can provide. We need to satisfy citizens’ demands for convenience and choice. Both the public and private sectors have major roles in service delivery. The public sector has a distinct and special role in creating foundational evidence identity (birth and arrival in country record) which merit unique treatment. However, the private sector can add significant value in the provision and management of digital identities, anchored to foundational evidence of identity. Together, the public and private sectors serve Canadians by: establishing legislation, regulations and standards, and providing valuable services that comply with legislation, regulations and standards.

7.  What drew you to become a leader on the DIACC Board? 

For me, it’s an opportunity to work with the best experts in the industry, and make a contribution to Canada across many sectors. Canada has an opportunity to lead globally in this space, and I want to be a part of that, helping to foster collaboration across public and private sector boundaries.

8.  What advice would you give to others who are thinking about investing in digital identity or becoming members of the DIACC?

Digital identity is needed by everyone. Digital identity will affect everyone. Either you will shape the digital identity agenda, or be shaped by the digital identity agenda. DIACC is an opportunity for you to shape the digital identity agenda and work with the best digital identity experts in the world.

9. Are there any other thoughts you’d like to share with our readers?

It’s an exciting time for digital identity. There’s no shortage of innovation. We are doing most of this work in the open, so we encourage you to contribute your thoughts.  Full collaboration and partnership across Canada is critical to tackle this very important initiative.