WOW: Soon, you could have an e-IC in your smartphone. I can’t even

Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:43 pm

Lo and behold, having an e-IC in your smartphone can be a thing here in the near future.

Called “The Mobile Digital ID,” it would sit in your cellphone’s SIM card. The Mobile Digital ID would allow Singaporeans to perform all online transactions such as those from government agencies and banks.

The Infocomm Development Association of Singapore (IDA) is confident that the Mobile Digital ID would work in Singapore because of our high mobile penetration rate which hovers at 150%.  This means that every Singaporean has at least one cellphone.

The Government also believes that the technology–already in place in Hong Kong, Finland and Estonia–would better protect online identities as cases of identity thefts and fraud rises. The e-IC would not replace our physical IC.

The Mobile Digital ID will be based on an advanced encryption technique called public key infrastructure (PKI). The current practice of online transactions require users to remember multiple usernames and passwords or to have multiple iBanking tokens.

With the proposed system, users will be able to ditch the multiple usernames, passwords, and tokens. They simply enter enter a personal identification number (PIN) linked to the Mobile Digital ID account via SMS for authentication. Even if hackers were to intercept the SMS, they would not be able to capture the PIN thanks to the PKI. Fraudulent transactions would also be prevented as the encrypted PIN must match up to user’s records in the central system.

Since it is an e-IC, you would have to make a police report if you lose your cellphone. Even then, there is no need to worry about someone else using your Mobile Digital ID as they do not know your PIN.

IDA will begin a trial as early as next month to access whether it meets users’ needs.

What this all means is that our cellphones will become an even more integral part of our lives; serving not only as our digital connection to the world but also as an extension of our personal identity.