Tag Archives: spotlight

Spotlight on Acuant

1.What is the mission and vision of Acuant?

Acuant’s mission is to power trust. We do this by enabling trusted transactions that are privacy minded, putting consumers in control of their data and minimizing risk. We are mindful that a mission must be founded upon a set of core values and business principles. For Acuant this means that we take a customer centric approach that defines our purpose, guides our products and harnesses the innovation and enthusiasm of our people. Our vision is that identity is the new currency and it should belong to the individual who may choose when and how to share their personally identifying information or PII. This must be balanced with the fact that the need for strong, customer-friendly identity proofing solutions has never been greater. As PII is continuously jeopardized, Acuant serves to find a way to create trusted transactions that puts individuals at ease and in control, while simultaneously allowing businesses to address their appropriate level of risk. We see ourselves as a global player on the good side of managing identity to aid in reducing human trafficking, combatting commercial fraud and safeguarding our borders

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

Acuant believes that digital identity will unlock both the Canadian and global markets by providing two critical ingredients:  1) an individual’s personal control over their own identity and how it is used; 2) the ability for a commercial or government to trust the transaction even when the person is not present.

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

Acuant has been and remains committed to the proper and protected use of identity in powering transactions from boarding crossings to payments. Our Trusted Identity Platform provides identity verification, regulatory compliance and digital identity solutions leveraging AI and human assisted machine learning to deliver tools and technologies necessary for this transformation.  These omnichannel solutions provide seamless customer experiences when it comes to verifying identity, fighting fraud and establishing trust across the physical and digital world. The result is accurate risk decisioning, allowing businesses to move faster and deliver the best user experience across all channels.

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

We believe that Canada provides a wonderful canvas for the design and implementation of a digital identity ecosystem.  It has a robust economy, a diverse population who embrace choice, control and convenience, principles in privacy and democratic regulation and a long history of working hard to collaborate with international standards and enabling interoperability.

5. Why did Acuant join the DIACC?

Acuant joined DIACC because we believe in and want to participate in the creation of a Pan-Canadian trust framework that we envision being woven together with like frameworks from around the world.  Acuant has a long history of working with government  and commercial entities in fighting the good fight against fraud, terrorism, human trafficking, anti-money laundering with the utmost respect for privacy and  an individual’s control over their identity (which, as we state,  we view as the new currency).  We have also had a long tradition of working in Canada.

6. What else should we know about Acuant?

At Acuant we build great products and we stand behind those products. We have been in the industry for over 20 years, processing more than 4 million transactions each month in over 200 countries and territories and have created more than 400 million trusted digital identities with our patented eDNA™ technology. Our Trusted Identity Platform offers automated identity verification, regulatory compliance (AML/KYC) and digital identity solutions for the most secure environments (government services, border crossings, healthcare, banking) to consumer lifestyle apps and everything in between. We offer omnichannel deployment that allows seamless customer experiences for all to fight fraud and establish trust from any location in seconds.

Spotlight on ARUCC

1.What is the mission and vision of ARUCC?

The Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC) provides leadership in the post-secondary education field and service to its member institutions nationally and internationally, helping foster the advancement of registrarial practices in Canada. ARUCC strives to meet the needs of its members by adopting proactive measures reflecting changes in our professional environment.

Member institutions consist of universities, colleges and polytechnics that are recognized through either Universities Canada or the Colleges and Institutes Canada.

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

The need for online solutions increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. These solutions will become the norm as Canada and the global economy adapt to consumer expectations. As members of the post-secondary education field in Canada, we are not unfamiliar with the need for trustworthy digital identity given the increased demand for sending/receiving electronic documents.

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

Digital identity is most often managed as a gate to individual businesses through methods such as confidential passwords, PINs, and security questions. With each business having its own requirements (i.e., variations of password length and structure) it becomes nearly impossible for people to remember them all. Businesses and post-secondary institutions are forming allegiances to minimize the impact on the individual while maintaining trustworthy digital identity. An example of this is with CRA and banking passwords.

ARUCC also recognizes the need for trustworthy digital identity and is leading the implementation of a National Network with the core objective of improving permission-based, trusted access and portability of learner documents (i.e., transcripts, confirmation letters) across Canada and with trusted international partners for students, graduates, participating post-secondary institutions, provincial application centres and member 3rd party organizations.

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

Canada is in the global arena and is recognized as being trustworthy and reliable. From the post-secondary perspective, Canada has over 2.5 million students including more than 642 thousand international students[1] (based on 2019 statistics). As a destination for higher education it is imperative that trusted networks be established for identity management. The formation of the ARUCC National Network allows us to establish a ‘made for Canada’ solution that can also be tied to other trusted networks (i.e., My eQuals, CHESICC).

In 2018 Canada ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention which demonstrates our commitment to the recognition of academic credentials, which need to be portable, as learners and alumni move to work and live around the globe. This inspires the work of ARUCC to enhance trusted document exchange and provide learner credential wallets.

5. Why did ARUCC join the DIACC?

ARUCC believes in working together to achieve common goals. We feel the purpose of ARUCC and the creation of the National Network to support learner mobility aligns well with DIACC’s principals.

6. What else should we know about ARUCC?

ARUCC was formed in 1964 and became incorporated in 2018. It includes over 150 member institutions representing over 2.5 million current learners and millions of alumni from within Canada and around the globe.

Spotlight on Stash

1.What is the mission and vision of Stash?

Our mission is to provide people with the tools and education to help them protect their online accounts. Our vision is a digital world in which people do not reuse any of their passwords across multiple accounts. Ever. Stash is bringing this vision to reality by delivering an offline password manager that makes it easy for people to create and securely manage strong, unique passwords for every single account they have. Ultimately, removing the difficulty and frustrations of having to do it on their own.

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

In the digital age, it is too easy for people to remain anonymous online or claim to be someone they aren’t. In the physical world, we have ways of proving who we are through different identification methods which makes it difficult for someone to fake their identity. As we increasingly go digital, we need a form of digital identity to help people stay secure and limit their risks of being the subject of fraudulent activity.

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

Simply put, digital identity will make it safer and easier for Canadians to operate online. This will lead to people conducting more business online, nationally and internationally, in ways in which they were not comfortable before.

While it is clear that digital services aid in the efficiencies of businesses and organizations, trusted digital identity has been relegated to a side note by many leaders across numerous sectors in Canada. As digital solutions continue to evolve, access to such services still requires end users to create usernames and passwords – leaving them with hundreds of login credentials to manage.

In the digital world, it has become critical to have strong password management practices. With the ever-increasing amount of online services that require passwords, many are left feeling overwhelmed and frustrated leading them to sacrifice security for convenience. Using a password manager allows people to improve their password security while providing the convenience and peace of mind needed to go about their lives.

Stash Password Manager was created to remove the frustrations of trying to manage unique, complex passwords for all of our digital accounts while ensuring each of your usernames and passwords are securely stored offline and making logging into accounts easy.

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

Canada is seen by many global observers as a trustworthy, safe and stable country. Once Canada moves beyond its strategic framework and implements various capacities of digital identification, our reputation will allow us to help influence the rest of the world in adopting a standardized digital identity protocol.

5. Why did Stash join the DIACC?

We believe our patent pending Island Technology™ and our approach to online security can assist in DIACC’s mission to achieve excellence in digital identity.

6. What else should we know about Stash?

The simplest way for people to protect their own digital accounts is by having a strong, unique password for every single account they have.

Stash was created because we realized people needed a way, that was both secure and convenient, to easily manage all of the different usernames and passwords they are forced to use in the digital age. We believe the only way to securely manage all of our login credentials (usernames + passwords) and truly keep them safe is to physically store them offline in a way that keeps them disconnected from the internet. This means they should not be managed on any device that is connected to the internet, as those devices can be hacked.

At the heart of Stash is Island Technology™. Island Technology™ creates an air-gapped “island” which allows a user to isolate their data and store it in a secure manner that keeps it disconnected from the internet. Essentially it acts as a dynamic, one way communication bridge that safely transfers data from a disconnected vault to the online world. Although we utilize this technology in transferring login credentials, other companies are now beginning to recognize Island Technology™ for its unique utility in additional use cases.

Spotlight on the Digital Technology Supercluster

1. What is the mission and vision of the Digital Technology Supercluster?

The Digital Technology Supercluster solves some of industry’s and society’s biggest problems through Canadian-made technologies. We bring together private and public sector organizations of all sizes to address challenges facing Canada’s economic sectors including healthcare, natural resources, manufacturing and transportation. Through this ‘collaborative innovation’ the Supercluster helps to drive solutions better than any single organization could on its own.

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

With the COVID-19 pandemic, now more than ever we are relying on our ability to prove our identity and key personal information remotely. Over the past six months, we have worked with dozens of organizations to develop and deploy cutting-edge digital and virtual health platforms. A critical requirement to ensure uptake of these developments is ensuring that Canadians feel they are in control of their personal data and have trust in the institutions and protocols we have created.

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

For the Digital Technology Supercluster, we see digital identity as a key component in the adoption of our many innovative technologies – whether it’s accessing remote addiction and mental health treatment for health care workers, or receiving post-surgical treatment from home. Without secure digital identity, Canada will be unable to continue developing innovative solutions like these. As a team, we strive to collaborate with companies (large and small), organizations and academic institutions to ensure that we are addressing digital security from all sides. Ensuring privacy and control of personal information is at the heart of what we do, and organizations like DIACC provide critical guidance on this front. 

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

Canada is already seen as a leader in the global economy. We are known for our transparency, ethical business practices and diverse resources. This foundation puts us on solid ground for not only contributing to the policy of digital identity, but alongside DIACC, leading the way on international interoperability in this space.

5. Why did the Digital Technology Supercluster join the DIACC?

We believe there is power in coming together towards a common goal, and that there is strength in bringing different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds to the table. To reach Canada’s full potential, it is critical that we leverage our diversity and unique strengths to share knowledge and expertise.

6. What else should we know about the Digital Technology Supercluster?

While we are located in Vancouver, British Columbia, our members span across the country, with 40 per cent of our 750+ membership in provinces outside of British Columbia. We are open to working with all types of organizations. By facilitating bold collaboration, we bring together companies of all sizes from a myriad of sectors within the tech ecosystem and tech-enabled companies from a variety of industries. This allows these organizations to tap into a network of knowledge and experience they would not otherwise have had access to.

Spotlight on ModoHR

1. What is the mission and vision of ModoHR?

ModoHR is a Canadian technology-driven business that provides modern solutions for the human resources industry. Our web application, ScreeningCanada™ was developed with the goal to empower Canadian organizations to remotely conduct background screening and digital identity verification. We help set the standard for Canadian privacy, compliance and data security; these unwavering principles provide Canadian organizations with compliant products and services that mitigate risk. 

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

Simply put, digital identity is the foundation of background screening. Without a candidate’s consent and identity verification, compliant and thorough background screening cannot take place. In addition, the emerging markets like on-demand delivery services and ride-sharing have further highlighted the need for speed in the background screening industry. We strongly believe that a trusted digital identity solution is critical in removing these obstacles and improving remote hiring.

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

Digital identity will transform the Canadian and global economy by removing geographical barriers for individual job applicants. ModoHR is pioneering new identity verification solutions in the marketplace with tools that utilize credit file-based verification, live video verification and facial accreditation. Existing background screening processes have traditionally required face-to-face interaction with the hiring manager, or an in-person verification conducted by an authorized third party like Canada Post. ModoHR’s digital identity solutions remove barriers that previously existed for remote hiring. The process is compliant with federal and provincial physical distancing recommendations and approved by police services. This transformation will empower Canadians and organizations to increase diversity and inclusion by removing traditional remote hiring barriers.

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

There is no question that Canada possesses the necessary knowledge and capabilities to be a leader in digital identity. Our national approach to privacy and compliance and the value we place on protecting personal information across all industries, is highly regarded around the world. In the coming months and years, Canadian provinces will need to work together to centralize, standardize and unilaterally protect personal information, and develop methods to securely utilize this information to verify identity.

Our competitors in this space are already operating on the global stage; Canada must move quickly to share resources, seek federal support and ensure that our sovereign interests will not be negatively influenced by the standards set by other nations. More importantly, we need to lead this charge to develop processes and platforms that are truly Canadian.

5. Why did ModoHR join the DIACC?

ModoHR Technologies joined DIACC to share our knowledge and experience relating to the important topic of digital identity, compliance, risk mitigation and global regulatory challenges.  We believe that together, Canadian organizations can not only improve processes for Canadians but remain at the cutting edge of policy development globally. We look forward to networking and sharing knowledge with other DIACC members.  

6. What else should we know about ModoHR?

ModoHR is owned by background screening and risk mitigation industry experts. Our executive team founded the pre-employment industry in Canada 20 years ago and built the largest risk mitigation firm in Canada. These subject matter experts came together to collaborate, re-imagine and empower Human Resources with technology that ensures privacy, security and streamlines processes for organizations and individuals alike. Our drive and enthusiasm is reflected in every new risk mitigation product or service that we create. In summary – we build what’s next™. 

Spotlight on Celero

1. What is the mission and vision of Celero?

Our vision is to be a leading provider of technology solutions to the financial industry that…

  • Others aspire to be
  • People want to work for
  • Clients know they can rely upon.

Celero is realizing this vision is by delivering a digital technology, integration and payments ecosystem to credit unions and financial institutions across Canada. This is accomplished through an innovative mindset, commitment to delivery, strong external partnerships and an unrelenting focus on reliability and security.

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

As a provider of technology solutions to credit unions, we recognize the growing expectation our clients face from their members who demand convenience, innovation and robust security in every financial experience.

Digital identity is the mechanism to enable our clients to secure their members’ trust as they serve them in an increasingly digital world. Beyond that, digital identity can be an enabling force for Canadians who are unbanked or underbanked. We believe in supporting the financial health of our customers’ customers and recognize that authentication of identity is a means for a more financially inclusive Canada.

Overall, Celero recognizes we have a critical role to play in enabling our clients to build trusted and lasting relationships with their current and future members through a trusted digital identity framework.

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

To protect consumers, organizations put safety measures in place that can also cause constraints on convenience. This has been an ongoing challenge for financial institutions, and today’s ‘on-demand’ culture has served to spotlight these issues.

A trusted digital identity framework for Canada will provide a backbone of security in convenient transactions – removing barriers, streamlining service delivery, and strengthening national and global economies.

Celero can help shape the framework with a  credit union perspective and can seek out the potential use cases and applications that can benefit our clients and their members and contribute to the DIACC’s goals through our expertise in financial technology and cyber security.

For instance, the Celero Xchange™ digital integration ecosystem platform enables financial institutions to seamlessly connect their secure platforms, such as their core banking system, to fintech applications – without the complexity of managing different standards for sharing data between products and partners.

Authenticating and authorizing a credit union member without compromising the security while maintaining a seamless member user experience is a key component of our platform and value proposition.

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

Canada has a growing fintech industry that is constantly seeking new ways to address digital innovation challenges and better serve consumers. The industry is becoming internationally recognized, and that expertise can serve Canada well in shaping a world-class digital identity framework that sets the standard for other countries to follow.

5. Why did Celero Solutions join the DIACC?

Our goal in joining the DIACC is to participate in driving forward solutions for digital identity trust in Canada, while obtaining new insights to apply with our clients in offering their members security, flexibility and convenience in a digital first society.

Spotlight on Vlinder

1. What’s your organization’s mission and vision?

Based in the United States and India, Vlinder’s vision is to enable an inclusive and sustainable ecosystem, with trust as the underpinning foundation.

Vlinder platforms are built harnessing new-gen technologies including blockchain, IoT and artificial intelligence to foster inclusion and sustainability within the ecosystem. 

Vlinder platform offerings are focused on helping private and public enterprises working towards the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

2. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy?

Globally, there are 1 billion people without proper identification, which equates to roughly one seventh of the world’s population. This population typically includes low income and vulnerable groups including women and girls, migrants, refugees, individuals with disabilities, and indigenous populations.

Not having access to proper ID restricts these vulnerable populations in obtaining basic essential services such as health, education, and financial services. 

ID is a foundational element that is a direct and indirect enabler of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:

  • Access to finance
  • Gender equality and empowerment
  • Access to basic health and education
  • Child protection
  • Social protection
  • Labour Markets

Building an inclusive sustainable ecosystem will not only better the lives of vulnerable populations, but will also help improve the global economy as more people will be contributing. 

3. How does your organization address the needs of this transformation?

Vlinder has built a decentralized ID platform, Klefki, which enables citizens to:

  • Own their identity.
  • Accept credentials from issuers and store them securely in mobile wallets.
  • Share credentials with verifiers using consent on demand.
  • Disclose selective details of credentials, as opposed to sensitive data.

Enables issuers to:

  • Issue credentials directly to the users wallet.
  • View all the credentials issued.

Enables verifiers to:

  • Verify credentials with citizens directly.

Our platform is being piloted in various countries, and is focused on bringing trust and inclusion to the broader population, while enabling the existing system to be more efficient. 

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

All countries have a role to play in accelerating progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Canada is a leader in technology and with a progressive mindset is well positioned not only to transform the ID (and peripheral) ecosystem within the country, but to bring change and transformation to the world. 

Any transformation led by Canada will be seen by the world and developing economies as a reference model for adoption. 

5. Why did your organization join DIACC and what else should we know about your organization?

Vlinder joined DIACC to participate and contribute to an important initiative, which is not only transformational for the Canadian population, but to the rest of the world. 

Spotlight on Mavennet

1. What is the mission and vision of Mavennet?

Mavennet’s vision is to build a new world of trust. 

We strive to empower large enterprises with better and more effective ways to securely share information and value. We build on technologies such as blockchain and AI to help transform entire industries. Our focus extends to several industries: financial services, supply chain, energy, the public sector and media and entertainment. Our business focuses on challenging the status quo of industries that are in need for disruption, either internally or externally.

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

Identity is at the foundation of any sharing of value or information. 

Traditional identity management systems are vulnerable to single points of failure, they raise privacy issues for the data they carry and limit the possibility of secure interoperability. In industries with business processes that rely on complex workflows or transactions amongst multiple stakeholders, the need for trustworthy digital identity becomes paramount.

At Mavennet, we are implementing decentralized identifiers to our suite of supply chain products to be able to associate a robust digital identity to actors and assets along a network. In conjunction with verifiable credentials (VCs) we enable cryptographically sound and privacy preserving claims that provide transparency and traceability to value chain participants. Ultimately, this trusted digital history of physical assets enables industries to have reliable provenance of goods and attribute actions to stakeholders. This addresses the most pressing pain points of global supply chains: traceability, auditability, flexibility and stakeholder management. 

Unlocking trustworthy digital identity in a way that is easy to implement in existing enterprise environments and can be readily adopted by multiple industries is crucial. It opens new pathways to emerging markets that are vulnerable to lack of trust amongst participants. 

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

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the lack of responsiveness and flexibility of global supply chains, as evidenced by the spike in closures of manufacturing facilities and the unmet demand for basic commodities. An added concern for international trade is the rise in counterfeiting, which exceeds $900 billion USD annually. These threats to the security and stability of global supply chains can be in part offset by the adoption of digital identities. Their power to unlock fast, secure and trustworthy exchanges, can significantly improve the operational and business process efficiency of industries as a whole. This overhaul of internal traditional processes translates into more globally competitive businesses and positions Canada as an incrementally valuable trading partner.

Mavennet has been deeply involved in the space of decentralized identities and VCs through the deployment of an energy traceability platform that provides end-to-end visibility of assets. This solution, called Neoflow, has laid out new standards for exchange of data in the form of VCs between supply chain stakeholders by identifying them with a unique decentralized identifier. Our goal is to aid the transformation towards digital identities by providing a set of standards and APIs that enable seamless integration with other vendors with the same vision and legacy systems.

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

Canada is particularly well poised to act as a leader in this space, given its strong international voice relative to its size.

Canada has a unique opportunity to drive the standards for adoption at an international level, due to its position as a global emerging innovation ecosystem and technology hub. Further, as a top global exporter of crude oil, gold, wheat, aluminum and others, Canada plays a key role in the way that international trade is conducted. The country has the international relevance to coordinate and propagate digital identity initiatives.

5. Why did Mavennet join the DIACC?

Defining identity standards collaboratively is an essential step when you are looking at transforming entire industries. Up to now we have been doing work with decentralized identity and VCs standards applied to the industries we focus on. We hope to leverage our experience and vision to contribute to the work DIACC does and help raise the water level for Canadian technology as a whole.

6. What else should we know about Mavennet?

We are currently working on exciting solutions for governments and multinational companies in Canada, US and Europe. The core IP of these solutions involves identity management, asset traceability, digital assets, analytics and artificial intelligence. Some of these are:

  • Neoflow – provides end-to-end digital traceability for energy. In particular we are working with the United States Department of Homeland Security  to help with traceability in the oil and gas sector. Multiparty, real-time, immutable data and insights gathered by Neoflow allows governments and key stakeholders to make data-backed decisions on supply/demand, regulation policies and tariffs.  
  • MetalTrail – traces the steel value chain, including materials’ dependencies, to certify the true origin, quality and environmental footprint of steel products.  
  • QCAD – is the first fully-regulated Canadian Dollar Stablecoin. This product was created through Stablecorp, a joint venture between 3iQ and Mavennet.  
  • MavenStamp – seamlessly provides “immutability as a service” through an API. It enables non-technical users to timestamp data on the blockchain and obtain  evidence of its existence. 

Earlier this year Mavennet launched an EU sponsored multinational blockchain research project funded at $12 million CAD. Mavennet leads the consortium as the technical lead. In this way, we are excited to continue contributing to the digital identity space and to be in such a privileged company with the DIACC. 

Spotlight on iProov

1. What is the mission and vision of iProov?

iProov’s mission is to make the internet a safer place for businesses and consumers. We provide trusted biometric authentication that is seamless, secure and effortless. Our vision is for all governments and enterprise institutions to be confident that the remote user is real and can be trusted. iProov strongly believes that the user and usability should be the heart of any solution and as such must be accessible to all users irrespective of their abilities, literacy and digital capability.

iProov ensures trust online through Genuine Presence Assurance. Governments, financial institutions and other enterprises are using iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance technology to ensure that an online user is not only the right person, but that they are a real person and authenticating right now. This unique approach protects against impersonation and criminal attacks, providing the highest levels of security alongside effortless usability.

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

One of the most significant challenges with digital service is establishing trust. A key element of which is how to bind the digital identity attributes of a person, to the person and assuring only they can assert that identity. As online digital becomes the primary channel to interact with services, customers and citizens are increasingly vulnerable to impersonation attacks from fraudsters compromising their identity. It is crucial to have consented, secure and effortless identity verification and authentication for everyone.

In many economies, parts of the citizen population have no formal identity documentation. Embracing digital identities will enable all members of society to be included, enabling them to unlock access to services previously not possible.

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

Digital identities are the cornerstone of doing businesses in the 21st century, they offer speed and flexibility in remote interactions which creates greater competition, economical efficiency, and greater citizen empowerment and inclusion.

iProov provides governments and enterprises with a very high level of assurance that the person interacting with their service is the legitimate user while protecting against criminal attacks. iProov Genuine Presence Assurance technology ensures trust by validating and authenticating users online to the highest level of certainty i.e. that a user is a real person, the right person, and authenticating right now.

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

DIACC is playing a critically important role in coordinating a national digital identity and framework in a way that is notably lacking in the US and UK. By showing how a liberal democracy can successfully empower citizens with a nationally structured system of digital identity, Canada will exert a very powerful influence on both sides of the Atlantic and help lead the G7 to a better place.

5. Why did iProov join the DIACC?

iProov believes that trust between a provider and its citizens or customers must be achieved alongside two critical objectives:

  • Accessibility and inclusion – providing services which offer maximum access, irrespective of their abilities, literacy and digital savviness.
  • Sustainable security – ensuring a secure environment, business processes and centralized management controls to flexibly evolve and manage future, unknown risks.

It is this experience and insight that iProov brings to DIACC and can help DIACC in developing digital identity standards.

6. What else should we know about iProov?

The iProov solutions are trusted at national scale levels today with institutions such as:

  • The UK National Health Service – iProov provides strong authentication to onboard citizens in the UK to the NHS Login mobile app. With iProov, citizens registering for the NHS app are able to authenticate themselves in real-time with the image on their passport or driver’s license, allowing them to book medical appointments, order repeat prescriptions, and gain access to their patient record.
  • The UK Home Office – the EU Settled Status scheme is utilizing iProov to assure the genuine presence of remote users and to verify that the applicant is the rightful holder of the validated ID document. Over 3 million EU citizens have used the service to apply for permanent residency status.

It is this experience and insight that iProov brings to DIACC and can help DIACC in developing digital identity standards.

iProov’s proven, simple and inclusive user experience is critical to the service we offer to our Government and Enterprise customers, and has been a key contributor to our successful engagements with some of the world’s most security-conscious and user-friendly organizations.

Spotlight on Peer Social

1. What is the mission and vision of Peer Social? 

Peer Social is a team of dedicated decentralists who are researching and developing new architectures and technologies to solve some of the most pressing problems of our time—starting with social media. We are committed to eliminating the dynamic of user exploitation, which has become commonplace on the social internet.  

Social networks and centralized Cloud service providers require users to agree to terms which include giving up control of their personal data in return for using their network or service. They use this agreement as a blanket authorization to host, track and store, their users’ online activities and behaviours. The Surveillance Capitalism business model represents the worst excesses of the social Internet—we are here to change it.

Over the past 2 years we have assembled a super-talented team of security architects, designers, developers, and some of the world’s best academic researchers to build a secure, distributed, mobile networking app, which allows users to create their own private network (using a secure blockchain)—it’s called Manyone. Manyone is a safe, digital environment where users control their personal information, connections, and unique personas. 

We want to fix content moderation, content hosting, and the ownership problems of today’s social Internet by giving users decentralized ownership and control of their data. We want everyone to have a self-sovereign, self-hosted, digital identity. 

2. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? 

Users having a real, verifiable, trusted, digital identity solution is the ambition of every person, country and every business. Enabling one true digital identity for every human would improve access to services like healthcare, government, and banking by uncoupling this access from traditional identity issuers—this would give the under-privileged and under-banked the ability to establish their own unique digital identity. 

Economies around the world, including Canada, are going to need to rebuild quickly. Imagine a world where all people had their own self-sovereign digital identity. By establishing immutable links to every citizen at the individual level—we would remove the friction (measured in both time and money) associated with accessing online services/support. Digital access that is efficient, secure, and convenient for everyone is key in helping rebuild and transform economies. 

3. How does your organization address the needs of this transformation?

Peer Social focuses on an increasingly important component to any digital identity architecture by enabling true, verifiable, self-sovereign digital identity. 

Any individual user, business or government wanting to create a self-sovereign digital identity can do so by recording it on a personal blockchain and securely sharing it with other people and institutions over a private distributed network.

We aim to deliver the simplest, yet most powerful, self-sovereign, verified, decentralized digital identity platform we can for our users.

4. What role does Canada have as a leader in this space? 

Canada is in a unique position to take a leadership role in the global digital identity market by already possessing a foundation of ‘trust’—essential for any successful solution. Brand Canada has a lot of admirers around the world and it is easy to imagine a robust and cutting edge, Canadian-built digital identity solution gaining wide acceptance at a global level.

In today’s world, Canadians are more likely to trust a self-sovereign, digital identity solution that is architected and built in Canada. In fact, a digital identity solution produced in Canada is more likely to be accepted as a global standard due to Canada’s reputation as a fair and open society.

5. Why did your Peer Social join the DIACC and what else should we know about your organization? 

Peer Social joined DIACC to become more engaged (at the policy level) in the Canadian digital identity conversation. We live in interesting times, where a lot of attention is being paid to digital identity and how to produce the best solution to meet the needs of traditional identity issuers like banks and governments—while still respecting individual users’ civil liberties. Joining DIACC is a great way to connect and listen to what others have to say—as well as add our voice to the discussion.

Keep an eye on Peer Social. We are launching our first generation, decentralized, self-sovereign, digital identity mobile App, Manyone, very soon— allowing each of us to take our first steps towards a self-sovereign, digital future.

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