In 2021, Patrick Hearn wrote “Digital Identity Is a National Security Issue,” where he argued that the U.S. government has put the safeguarding of digital identity on the back burner, despite hosts of threats from foreign adversaries. Four years later, we asked Patrick to revisit his analysis in light of advancements in cyber capabilities of both the United States and its adversaries.Image: U.S. Air Force (Photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew J. Alvarado)In your 2021 article, “Digital Identity Is a National Security Issue,” you argue the federal government has long treated digital identity as a secondary issue and should do more to ensure Americans’ identities are protected, especially from foreign adversaries. Has the severity of that threat strengthened or diminished since your article was published? Advances in both AI and the looming availability of quantum computing have exponentially increased threats to digital identity. Recent examples such as the rise of voice recognition attacks due to AI fakes are merely one of many such threats. Simultaneously, digital identity providers — both governments and technology providers — have propagated micromanaged, “frictionless” identity proofing, allowing vast increases in fraud, waste, and abuse. Within self-certified governance frameworks, this development has played a role in the recent rescinding of digital identity provisions.The enhanced use of AI will play a key role in decrypting personal identifiable information held in databases or locally on electronic devices. AI is being used today to identify patterns within digital cryptographic keys as part of the decryption process.Further, the arrival of quantum computing, now predicted to be available before 2030, represents an existential crisis that standards bodies, key national stakeholders, and leaders at large have not generally accounted for. The combination of unrelenting pattern detection combined with scaled brute force execution is nothing less than a cyber nightmare for every American. If
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In 2021, Patrick Hearn wrote “Digital Identity Is a National Security Issue,” where he argued that the U.S. government has put the safeguarding of digital identity on the back burner, despite hosts of threats from foreign adversaries. Four years later, we asked Patrick to revisit his analysis in light of advancements in cyber capabilities of both the United States and its adversaries.Image: U.S. Air Force (Photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew J. Alvarado)In your 2021 article, “Digital Identity Is a National Security Issue,” you argue the federal government has long treated digital identity as a secondary issue and should do more
