A Comparative Study of Cyber Threats on Evolving Digital Identity Systems

Identity empowers global citizens; it helps an individual to play an active part in international development. To do so, there is often a need for individuals to formally identify themselves. This empowers them to engage in financial services, voting rights, business rights, land titles, social protection, school and various other benefits. Organisations are becoming increasingly customer-centric and many are realising the importance of digital identity as a key to improve customer experience. However, a significant proportion of the human population does not have access to credentials, and in a number of instances, identities have been counterfeited or misused. Robust identification and associated management systems need to be introduced and implemented to address these challenges. Novel digitised decentralised approaches are being explored, and this emerging field promises to empower individuals with an identity; however, emerging threats and risks prevent such systems from being trusted. Firstly, this paper aims to describe the existing model of evolving Digital Identity Management System(IDMS) and investigate the related cyber security requirements and challenges to such systems. Secondly, the STRIDE threat modelling approach is described in the context of IDMS. Finally, the paper identifies the threat landscape of IDMS by employing the threat modelling approach.