Interview Tony POOLE de DSA

What motivated your participation at TRUSTECH, and why is an event like this essential for the DSA?

DSA is a 20+ year-old association comprised of security-focused members from federal, state, and local agencies, industry, and academia in North America and Europe. This partnership of more than 110 organizations works diligently as a forum for discourse, education, and opportunity to improve identity security processes, methods, techniques, and technologies.

DSA’s goals are aimed at promoting innovations and advancing the security of identity documents within the complex digital and physical ecosystems of issuance and verification. We seek to eliminate the value and exploits of document counterfeiting.

Our participation at TRUSTECH is essential because we believe it is an important part of the ecosystem that we are advancing and operating within. Many countries in Europe are often referred to as centers of excellence for document security technologies – DSA needs to bring European stakeholders – governments, leading technology companies, and advanced academic organizations – into our discourse.

How do you see the future of document security and authentication in a rapidly evolving technological landscape?

The threat posed by counterfeiters is existential. The sophistication of, and access to, the technologies that counterfeiters use is rapidly advancing, requiring an approach to rise above the typical back and forth anti-counterfeiting cycle of design changes and technology updates.

This threat is greater than the document itself. Fraudulent entities are using counterfeit documents in a way that might be best described as a camel’s nose under the tent. What started as simply selling fake documents has evolved into schemes of skimming personally identifiable information (PII) from fake ID customers and using the PII to gain access to a variety of financial and governmental benefits. These schemes are not only employed in identity theft, but facilitate pre-operational terrorist activities, human trafficking, and extortion, and can be used by a variety of criminal organizations to move or acquire illicit goods.

There is no single solution to these threats. It is critical that governments take it very seriously. Gone are the days of issuing sub-standard identity credentials based on a low-priced, technically acceptable purchasing model. Counterfeiting entities have exploited those documents for far too long. Increasing the technical sophistication of identity documents is paramount. While it may require additional investment upfront, such a move will save untold expenses downstream, while also potentially saving lives.

What are the main challenges or innovations the DSA is currently facing in the field of identity security?

While it’s not unique to North America, public complacency and apathy in the United States, as an example, presents a significant hurdle. The high quality of many counterfeit identity documents can lead to a lack of questioning, and the public doesn’t understand what could happen to them if they use a counterfeit document. In addition, some states have ambiguous language in their laws while others do not allow alcohol distributors to confiscate fake IDs. Some retail stores instruct their cashiers to accept counterfeit banknotes instead of confronting the customer.

One of our important initiatives to address this knowledge gap is the DSA Identity Security Campaign, a public service program designed to educate the public about the dangers associated with acquiring and using fake or counterfeit identification/driver’s licenses. We believe that every person who understands these dangers will be less inclined to purchase a fake ID – reducing the demand for these documents. Reducing fake ID demand is a critical component of the strategy to rise above the back-and-forth anti-counterfeiting cycle focused only on the documents themselves.

The challenge we face is reaching a critical mass to make a real difference. We are currently working with airports, universities, and police departments to spread this important message and are continuing to reach out to other like-minded organizations to embrace the campaign.

Bonus question: How is the DSA addressing the growing threat of cyberattacks and digital fraud in the context of document security?

DSA is promoting discourse on digital attacks to biometric systems, using encryption in novel ways on physical documents that are interoperable with digital identity implementation, and raising awareness on some of the vectors to exfiltrate PII. DSA’s members help to drive mitigations and solutions to these threats.

DSA believes the root of identity trust is the physical document – a form of identity that everyone possesses – and that we need to transition from a stove-piped environment where physical and mobile IDs operate in silos, to an environment where both forms of identity are inextricably linked and serve to authenticate each other. We need to move to a hybrid environment where physical documents support the digital documents, and vice-versa.

DSA is working closely with its member organizations to address the continuing threat evolution by encouraging governments to take serious action to raise the bar that industry needs to achieve and deliver in support of the security of their identity programs.