<
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/05/digital-drivers-license-used-by-4m-australians-is-a-snap-to-forge/>
"In late 2019, the government of New South Wales in Australia rolled out
digital driver's licenses. The new licenses allowed people to use their iPhone
or Android device to show proof of identity and age during roadside police
checks or at bars, stores, hotels, and other venues. ServiceNSW, as the
government body is usually referred to, promised it would “provide additional
levels of security and protection against identity fraud, compared to the
plastic [driver's license]” citizens had used for decades.
Now, 30 months later, security researchers have shown that it’s trivial for
just about anyone to forge fake identities using the digital driver's licenses,
or DDLs. The technique allows people under drinking age to change their date of
birth and for fraudsters to forge fake identities. The process takes well under
an hour, doesn’t require any special hardware or expensive software, and will
generate fake IDs that pass inspection using the electronic verification system
used by police and participating venues. All of this, despite assurances that
security was a key priority for the newly created DDL system.
“To be clear, we do believe that if the Digital Driver's Licence was improved
by implementing a more secure design, then the above statement made on behalf
of ServiceNSW would indeed be true, and we would agree that the Digital
Driver's Licence would provide additional levels of security against fraud
compared to the plastic driver's licence,” Noah Farmer, the researcher who
identified the flaws, wrote in a post published last week."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
