ETRI to lead international standard for digital identity wallets

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has officially begun developing an international standard for digital identity wallets to lead the way in the digital ID era. Digital identity wallets are the next generation of authentication technology that allows users to securely store and access a variety of identification documents on their smartphones, including resident registration cards, driver's licenses, student ID cards, credit cards, and more.

Digital identity wallets, which began with mobile government IDs in Korea in 2021, are now expanding their use to mobile driver's licenses, mobile resident registration cards, and more.

Through ongoing research in identity authentication technologies, ETRI researchers have developed ▲ user-centric identity management technologies and ▲ multi-factor authentication technologies, which form the foundation of digital identity wallets, and ETRI holds a number of core IPRs.

Specifically, user-centric identity management technologies are those designed to give users direct control and selective sharing of their identity information. Decentralized identifiers (DIDs) are applied to enhance privacy and reliability.

In addition, multi-factor authentication technology combines two or more authentication factors such as biometrics, smartphone security chips, and PINs to enhance security, and adopts FIDO2-based authentication protocols to meet international security standards.

Through the development of this international standard, ETRI researchers will ▲ develop international standard patents to secure global interoperability of digital identity wallets ▲ develop technologies in cooperation with official standards developing organizations ▲ and expand empirical applications in the financial, public, and industrial sectors.

In particular, it is working with Financial Security Institute, which is well-versed in domestic security requirements, to enhance the effectiveness of digital identity authentication technology. In addition, it is promoting the spread of the technology in the European and domestic markets through joint research with Hopae Co., Ltd., which is active in the global open source platform OpenWallet Foundation.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the digital identity authentication law “eIDAS 2.0” came into effect in May 2024 and aims to have 80% of EU citizens using digital identity wallets by 2030.

Furthermore, it is strengthening its collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an international standardization organization, and the Linux Foundation's OpenWallet Forum to expand global interoperability.

ETRI's Cyber Security Research Division will use the research to make people's digital lives more convenient and secure, and to spread the technology's impact across the digital identity authentication industry.

Seung-Chan Bang, President of ETRI, said, “International standardization is more than just a technology competition, it's a strategic activity at the national level. We will actively support research to ensure Korea achieves global leadership in digital identity authentication technology.”

1) DID (Decentralized Identifier): An identification scheme designed to allow individuals or organizations to prove and manage their own identity without the intervention of a central authority. Unlike traditional centralized identity schemes (e.g: government-issued resident registration numbers, social media logins, etc.), DIDs operate on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain, and users retain ownership and control of their identity information.

2) FIDO2 (Fast Identity Online 2): A global authentication standard that enables user authentication based on biometrics or security keys, designed to allow for secure login without the need for passwords, consisting of the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) API and the Client to Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) for communication between authenticating devices.

3) Interoperability: The ability for information to be exchanged seamlessly and functionality to be compatible across different systems or platforms.

4) Official standards developing organization: An organization that officially establishes and manages standards with the approval of a government or international organization, such as ISO, ITU, and ETSI.

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This standardization project, led by ETRI, is part of the “Information and Communications Broadcasting Standard Development Support Project” of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). ETRI is leading the project, with the Financial Security Institute and Hopae Co., Ltd. jointly participating.