August 4, 2014

Medical identity theft can be checked with biometric technology

Biometric security measures are a means to identify people through a physical characteristic. The technology enables us to differentiate people by analyzing their fingerprints, palm prints, retina scans, voice patterns or facial structure. Though the technology has been around for years, it is likely to grow exponentially in the years to come owing to lower costs, better accuracy and wider public acceptance.

Data breaches at hospitals cost the U.S. health-care industry as much as $7 billion a year, according to the Ponemon Institute, a Michigan-based organization that studies privacy, data protection, and security. And that doesn’t count the unknown cost of fraudulent use of information from lost or stolen insurance cards and drivers licenses.

Biometrics can play a significant role in improving the security and medical standards of the healthcare industry. Switching to biometric security measures can contribute to a large extent in preventing medication errors and reducing billing fraud.

Identity theft to claim cashless medical treatment is a common challenge faced by healthcare providers today and it is a relatively easy crime to commit due to easy access to personal information of patients, both online and offline. It leaves healthcare facilities at a risk of unpaid bills, and the person whose identity has been stolen, accountable for the medical facilities they did not even receive. Even insurance companies are badly affected with this menace and end up losing big money in the process.

The use of biometric identification instead of paper insurance cards is a reliable and viable solution to curb such frauds. Not only this, it also deters immoral and dishonest health care providers from filing exaggerated insurance claims, because a biometric scan offers a fool proof way to validate a patient’s physical presence at the health care facility.

Did you know, an iris scan is 100,000 times more resistant to frauds on account of false identification as compared to facial-recognition softwares? At HCA’s British hospitals, scanners are used when patients check in, in radiology and at the cash counter. At the time of enrolment of a patient, a camera takes a digital picture of the iris using LED lights. Patients don’t disapprove of such measures because they equate high-tech with high quality, and that’s exactly what the new-age health care facilities are aiming at – using technology to ensure maximum physical security of patients as well as complete e-security of their personal records to minimize any chances of medical identity theft.

With biometric technology now widely available at an affordable cost, investing on biometrics is a small price to pay to minimize the huge losses incurred by hospitals on providing their services to the wrong people and also to prevent any inconvenience to people in whose name the services have been availed. After all, it is the hospital/ healthcare facility whose reputation is at stake!

July 29, 2014

Is this the last wallet you will buy? Perhaps the last, but one, you own?

As global commerce goes online and more transactions become electronic, various technologies and solutions have emerged that are disrupting the way consumer commerce is taking place. And its not just about replacing bank notes and coins with credit cards. These technologies are challenging the need for people to carry wallets as they eliminate the need for multiple credit cards, and certainly bank notes.

Given the processing power of mobile phones, and the innovations in the form factors as well as the apps in the mobile eco-system, it was a matter of time when cash as well as credit cards moved to an app on your mobile phone. In the not-so-distant past, we have seen loyalty cards – which were a rage in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s – disappear. Physical cards, which were a pain to carry, were replaced by online versions of loyalty programs and apps & services which helped brands manage their loyalty programs, as well as add significant value by cross-linking benefits redemptions across multiple brands.

Likewise, a number of companies are working on solutions that provide a comprehensive and, most importantly, secure way of concluding retail transactions electronically using your mobile phones or other wearable devices that are disrupting current hardware and usage patterns.

Given the size and scale of the opportunity, and the deep need for security and reliability, this is a game for the big boys. But as always, garage startups and technology companies are throwing their weight into the ring. Who knows, the leader in the payments segment may not have been born yet. The search for more efficient online & digital payment solutions have led to some interesting developments. While the giants in the traditional payments eco-system – PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, etc., who are investing heavily in electronic payment innovations and technologies, the most talked about innovation in the electronic payment space is from Starbucks, who created a mobile wallet solution to meet their own needs, and are getting requests for white-labeling by other brands that are looking for easy-to-use, secure and robust digital payment solutions.

Apart from the software, and the ability to integrate with a number of stakeholders in the complex payment completion eco-system, hardware manufacturers are also playing a big part in integrating technologies that enable mobile payments. Technologies like NFC (Near Field Communications) are likely to find their largest anchor customer in the payments industry. A few solutions are already in play e.g. solutions where consumers can pay by just tapping their phones to a NFC enabled POS. And a lot more are being tested and thought about.

Clearly, the battle royale has not yet begun. And while there are early-movers, the winners or leaders have certainly not been declared. While giants in the traditional payment space have a strategic advantage. But the space is wide open for new players to disrupt the market.

The question is not whether your wallet will be replaced by an electronic or mobile wallet, the question is how soon. Watch this space!!!!

Oops…watch indeed. A watch may just be your next wallet.

UPDATE – And I knew that I did not say it too soon !! Please do check this link – Pay with your smart watch

July 16, 2014

Why do banks need e-security?

As a customer, whom do you trust the most to take care of your hard-earned money?

The answer is most definitely YOUR BANK.And the reason you entrust your bank with your money is because you feel that it is the most safe and secure place to park your funds for future use. To maintain this relationship of trust, banks need to constantly evolve their security systems, both physically and online, to protect the interest of customers and shield them from any frauds.

In today’s era when e-commerce is the buzzword and most transactions like shopping, hotel bookings, flight bookings, bill payments etc. are moving online, customers face a much higher e-security risk on account of stolen debit/credit card details. Data from the FICO Card Alert Service shows a 48% increase in ATM fraud as a result of skimming from 2012 to 2013 (ATM fraud means fraudulent withdrawal of funds from an ATM by a thief by using stolen ATM cards and PIN information). With online banking/ online payments becoming common, customers have become more vulnerable since hackers, and sometimes even the employees of the banks can end up with their credit card, ATM/debit card details and other personal information and misuse it, leading to a rise in credit/debit card and ATM frauds.

Although such frauds affect only a fraction of all purchases made with credit or debit cards, the very thought of YOU being one of them can be extremely nerve wrecking. As cyber criminals get better at their job by using increasingly sophisticated ways to outdo even the best security measures adopted by banks, banks need to constantly find new ways to protect the confidential information of customers that can expose them to fraud. For this reason, banks need to continuously work on improving e-security to build greater customer confidence since it is the key to customer retention!

Take for example, the case of online CNP (Card not Present) transactions in banks. This is an area of increasing concern. Fraud moves to the easiest target, and CNP transactions are becoming soft targets as banks migrate to chip card technology for POS transactions. Introduction of EMV in banks to improve e-security proved to be a huge benefit for customers and banks since there is a significant drop in face-to face and ATM fraud. Virtualisation of services, with mobile and online banking is an area which exposes banks to varied hacking attacks and risks, and necessitates a thorough re-examination of their technology framework, processes and risk mitigation. Just obtaining insurance against such frauds is not action enough, these only add to avoidable trasaction costs.

Financial institutions incurred $955 million in losses due to debit card fraud in 2010 – a 21% increase from the $788 million in losses incurred during 2008. (Source: Payments Journal, Feb. 2012).

With e-security related frauds growing year after year, having strong counter measures in the form of the best and latest e-security technologies can differentiate the best banks from the rest because no good bank would think twice before investing on protecting its customers’ best interests. After all, if a bank faces constant e-security threats, no sensible customer would think twice before switching to a more secure bank where there money is in safer hands.

The RBI in India has imposed a mandatory requirement for a 2^nd factor authentication for CNP transactions made online, however it is for banks to move to a more secure way to deliver the OTP or the 2^nd factor. I strongly believe that biometrics will show us the way, but more on that later.

We hope banks in India will allocate a part of their budget to use technology to secure their customers, since improving security does not always mean more costs for the bank.

June 16, 2014

Democratization of Biometrics

Here are some excerpts from my interview with Kartik Sharma, in the e-gov magazine, on the Democratisation of Biometrics.

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What is the relevance of Biometric Technology in India and how do you think it can lead to a transformational change?

Biometrics technology, which essentially uses parts of the human body – iris, fingerprints, voice, etc. – for uses like identification, authentication and access, is one of the securest technologies for authentication. This is because things like iris and fingerprints are unique to every individual, which therefore helps in ensuring that individual profiles can be maintained without risk of duplication.
In other words, Biometrics technology is the lowest common multiple that everybody acknowledges, and today we should take advantage of this de-duplicated data.
India has been an aggressive user of biometric technologies, and in fact The Aadhaar program is one of the largest Biometrics Technology implementations in the world. The Aadhaar Program has created a central identity platform and in the process is setting up the foundations of an ecosystem around which a whole set of applications and technology driven solutions will be created.
I, therefore, believe that India will lead the way for democratization of biometrics or civilian biometrics. And, if implemented properly, can lead to multiple benefits. As in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which now boasts of 22 percent saving of Public Distribution System (PDS), only because duplication has been removed.

‘Aadhaar’ as a foundation

“Aadhaar programme is one of the largest implementations of biometric technology in the world. It has created a central identity platform and in the process is laying the foundation of an ecosystem around which a whole set of applications and technology-driven solutions would be created”

With the new Government what shall be the future of Biometrics?
To my mind, the future of any technological advancement must enhance convenience, and it must improve the lot of beneficiaries. It is too soon to predict the policies of the new Government; and I hope they continue on the path of technological enhancement as it brings a positive change in the lives of the people.
During a recent session with a group of close entrepreneurial friends, I chanced upon the idea of creating a “Collaborative Biometric AppNet” – serving two purposes – on one hand to accelerate the adoption of biometric technology and on the other, creating an angel support platform for young technology startups to build a plethora of business applications with biometrics as a fundamental layer.

What are the other emerging areas where biometrics may be of great use?
Today, technology permits secure transactions. There are password-generating softwares, and despite making so many permutations and combinations, passwords are still breached. However, by using biometrics, the system of generating multiples and duplicates are ruled out. Biometrics can be sent through the Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel so it becomes more secure. In this way one is certainly enriching the user experience, and multiple logins are done away with.
Actually, by using biometrics one can create a robust ecosystem. Any way, we are accustomed to using biometrics because the face value of a person is in fact also a biometrical detail. However, now it needs to have a trusted identity system. This will be used in every part of the environment, whether banks or insurance, to make the transaction
secure.

The whole idea of customer relationship management framework in the context of biometric technology will change across sectors. Kindly elaborate.
In India, our biggest enemy is geography; I mean distance because of the vastness. Say, we have about 6 lakh villages with approximately 65 percent of population living in them. Here, all the people will aspire to have access to all the services that are available to the people of say, any metro city.
The difference is in the economies of scale. So which model will work? The model will be that of shared services. So when I go to a village, I set up some entity. I position myself as a white labeled delivery agent of everything. We do not represent anyone. We are just delivery agents. I need security of transaction for the customers. So what is my lowest common denominator? It is the biometrics. So once I enter the market place with my identity, we can consider transforming the customer service model worldwide, as we are segregating the whole context of delivery from what I am delivering or for whom I am delivering? I am creating a platform for delivery, for exchange. Nevertheless, all transactions shall remain trustworthy because they are online and secondly because they are biometrically secured.
Additionally, prevention of frauds can positively impact the bottom lines of companies. Biometrics makes identification and tracking possible in real-time, and much more efficient.

How do you see Biometrics as a helping hand for internet security?
The Internet has made its foray into virtually every segment of our lives, and many of our transactions and interactions are online. With fraudsters finding ever more creative ways to circumvent traditional online security steps, the market for biometric systems is growing.
Passwords – even when used correctly – can be easily forgotten by users, or bypassed by fraudsters with a few personal details and a phone call to the relevant company. A biometric system ensures that only the genuine account holder can access their private information. Biometric technology will improve security for online consumer transaction activity, and equally promote a higher degree of consumer trust and integrity.

We know you have been a great proponent of open standards and interoperability. How has the adoption of this been in e-Governance projects? I believe that the market is big enough for multiple people. One person cannot do everything. So I suggest an open framework, leading to more participation thereby bringing down the cost and prices. This will eliminate lock-ins. It will also allow a transparent roadmap for development, leading to competition and therefore a better and efficient product. For me, if the common man’s life improves, it is a win for technology. With this in mind, we began with driving license in Gujarat. After that, we went to the Government of India and asked for the standardisation of this technology. Thereafter, National Informatics Centre and the industry sat together and created a new standard-SmartCard Operating System Standard for Transport Application (SCOSTA). These days, all smart cards are having SCOSTA standards. Here, I want to highlight the efficacy of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) eco-system. The scheme, built on SmartCard technology, provides complete interoperability. The scheme has beneficiaries enrolled all over the country by various technology providers, their policies underwritten by different insurers and the ben Here, I want to highlight the efficacy of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) eco-system. The scheme, built on SmartCard technology, provides complete interoperability. The scheme has beneficiaries enrolled all over the country by various technology providers, their policies underwritten by different insurers and the beneficiaries themselves availing health care services from about 10000 hospitals operating in various parts of the country. The scheme is run on a standardised interoperable technology platform that ensures that a beneficiary enrolled by this system can avail of healthcare services anywhere in India. Despite the understanding of the need for interoperability, we still see major initiatives like financial inclusions failing. Your comments on what could be done? Financial Inclusions failed for two reasons. Firstly, lack of standardisation. Banks did not have standard programs. Secondly, there was no good business model for the Business Correspondents (BCs) sitting in the villages. At the FI level, we did an interesting survey of about 50 villages where we went up to the point of creating money inflow or outflow of that village. So here, classic banking service cannot be afforded. Empirical thinking is needed to service a village to sustain its ecosystem. It has to be cross-pollinated with other services, if you want to sell the services. You need to create a pipe which has to be viable and trustworthy and that brings us to biometrics.

June 16, 2014

Biometrics can increase efficiency and reduce waste in the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India

The New Government has promised to bring efficiency in it’s functioning. We Indians, who have known and experienced most government departments to be inefficient and corrupt, have high hopes that the new government will deliver on this promise. It is high time that we make all efforts to reduce “G-waste”.

Of course, apart from a mindset change and simplified processes that the government will introduce in public sector organizations, technology will play an important role in helping the Modi government increase transparency, efficiency & accountability.

Lets take the example of food & essential commodities distribution to understand the role that technology can play, as this affects a significant portion of our population.

The government of India, along with the State governments, runs the PDS scheme, wherein each family below the poverty line is eligible for a specific quantity of subsidized essentials e.g. 35 kgs of rice or wheat every month, while a household above the poverty line is entitled to 15 kgs of food grain on a monthly basis. This is a mammoth task that involves nearly 500,000 Fair Price Shops (FPSs) spread across the length and breadth of the country. Through the FPSs, the government distributes subsidized food grains and commodities worth over Rs. 30,000 crores annually to over 160 million families.

The Indian PDS is accused of being one of the most inefficient, and often accused of being extremely corrupt and pilferaged, systems in the world. Food grains and other essential commodities meant for the poor are often unfairly usurped by middlemen and sold in the open market at prevailing market prices. According to a report by Bloomberg, in just one state of Uttar Pradesh, over US$ 14.5 billion worth of subsidized supplies meant for the poor was looted or diverted in the last decade. The major reason for this rampant malpractice is that the identification of recipients and the transactions are manual, and can therefore be manipulated by fraudsters. Additionally, there are multiple agencies involved, with very little digitization to manage duplicities and fraud claims.

As a result, the intended beneficiaries most often do not receive the subsidized food grains.

It is obvious that we need to deploy technology in significantly enhancing the efficiency of the PDS system. For this purpose, a massive modernization drive is required. Computerization of the entire food supply chain and digitizing the database of actual beneficiaries will remain the major stepping-stones on which PDS can become successful.

In the last several years, that the digitization of the beneficiaries has been achieved in a number of states, but since the actual transactions have never been performed electronically (aside from a number of small pilots), the database is not used and deployed and obviously suffers from being dated and prone to errors. As we all know, any large database is self-correcting – the more you use it, the better it gets.

For transparent transactions, we need to have two fundamental essentials. One, that the beneficiary is “present”, and the second that the transaction is electronic. This will ensure that ONLY the beneficiary avails of the subsidy, and that there is no diversion.

A large number of beneficiaries are illiterate and poor and open to exploitation. ONLY biometric “presence” serves them. If they are personally not present, at least the diversion will not occur.

Using biometric systems for managing and transacting identities in the PDS by integrating information at the POS level will have the potential to save costs, ensure goods and services reach the intended users and make the public program extremely accessible.

The Gujarat government has already proven that ICT in PDS can improve accountability and transparency. They use an innovative model of service-delivery – the Biometric Bar-coded PDS Coupon system for the Targeted Public Distribution System in the state. Now, the Delhi Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs department is ready to implement biometric authentication (point of sale (PoS) devices) in each of the capital’s 2,772 fair price shops (FPS). The project also aims to prevent pilferage of food grains and to sell ration items to beneficiaries only on biometric authentication.

Transparent and efficient (technology driven) solutions are often wrongly seen as costly. In fact the ROI is easy to compute, and extremely attractive. What is needed is an interoperable, scalable, technology solution that is not vendor dependent, but “business case” driven.

On an average a FPS transacts food worth Rs. 2000 each day. Just a target saving of 5% on the food distribution efficiency is sufficient to pay for the required technology at the shop. We can well imagine that this is highly achievable.

I believe that given the vast network of the PDS in India and the rightful requirement of its beneficiaries, it will prove highly beneficial when the PDS is digitized through Biometrics. Not only will the country’s BPL population be given their rightful share of essential commodities, it will also help in making the ROI more relevant and precise.

May 28, 2014

Why every CEO should worry about the security of his digital assets

Online threats are increasing. And cyber criminals are getting sophisticated.

Online frauds, hacking into databases of companies to steal information and fraudulent transfer of funds/securities are just some of the categories of risks under the broad heading of ‘cyber crime’.

Some of the biggest names in the industry too have been victims of cyber crime. eBay recently revealed that cyber criminals had accessed personal details, including passwords, of 145 million customers. Large technology companies, including Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Facebook, the New York Times, Apple, and many more too have been ‘victims’ to hacking scandals and cyber-attacks. And of course, several banks and financial institutions face regular attacks from cyber criminals.

In fact, large companies are not the only targets of cyber attacks. They happen to smaller companies as well. Just that they don’t get reported as much, and worse, often are not even detected because of poor systems in tracking and managing digital information. In times where most businesses are moving to the cloud, each CEO must necessarily ensure that this “property on the cloud” is well protected. After all if his business works on these assets, they need to be secured.

However, the problem is that as security technologies evolve, so do cyber criminals. They up their competencies, often forging ahead of the prevalent protection technologies and solutions. After all, some of the cyber criminals are some of the sharpest, though misguided technology brains.

Security solutions cannot be passive. They have to be proactive.

In a climate of persistent and technologically evolving threat to digital assets, companies are now talking about proactive and context-aware intelligence to monitor digital assets, and prevent cyber crimes. An example of context aware intelligence would be alerting the user if concurrent log-ins to his account were to take place from two very different geographies.

Proactive, dynamic, device & platform agnostic cyber security solutions are a necessity in today’s business environment of mobile computing, cloud computing, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and social computing.

Companies face a challenge in balancing convenience and security

A common concern for every business is how to bridge the security gaps and vulnerabilities that arise from the implementation of emerging technologies. Every new addition to a technology stack, or indeed every new device, hardware or software could render existing implementations vulnerable.

Another challenge is that, just like at airports, every additional layer or process of security means an increase in inconvenience. Access cards, fingerprints, passwords, OTPs, two-step-authentication, etc. all add to inconvenience and increase of transaction time.

Biometrics can be a good ‘safety-belt’ for cyber security

Because biometric technologies provide unmatched, and relatively convenient way of accurate authentication of an individual’s identity, they offer an optimal solution.

By identifying an individual on the basis of unique characteristic that comprises fingerprints, iris recognition, hand geometry and facial characteristics, voice, etc., an organization can dramatically improve its access control, and thereby make its digital assets more secure.

Biometrics do not add any token or credential. Unlike cards, dongles and phones, they do not need any additional device to be carried by the user. This dramatically reduces misuse of the credential. The added advantage of biometrics technology is that it can be used across all digital channels — online, mobile and social — and is capable of becoming a new safety belt for the industry as a whole.

For businesses, getting biometrics technology right across various parts of the organization will be imperative for competitive advantage.

March 24, 2014

Democratizing Biometric Applications Development

Biometric technologies no longer mean only security, they are turning into business enablers and revenue accelerators. Of course, the Aadhaar program has created the central identity platform in the process shaping an eco-system which I believe has many essentially elements of lending an endurance to the eco-system. But the fact is that it is not only in India where we have Aadhaar that biometric applications will gain momentum. Even in USA, more and more people are clamouring to secure their private data and data access using biometrics – led by ease of use and higher degree of security.

As biometrics break through multiple barriers – more accelerated in the last 12 months than ever before – even as several new use cases of biometric adoption are starting to take real shape, I wonder what could make the biometric movement mass. Thus far, in some sense we have largely left it to the government policy makers and big businesses to find relevance of biometrics in their respective environments. You could expect the most progressive of this lot to start to envision use cases for adoption but that’s hardly optimal.

So who isn’t excited about the whole open source revolution? Not only did it bring together some very intuitive and bright minds together, it also unleashed a level of accelerated development not witnessed at any time in the past.

From the good old days when people protected their thought, here was a revolution which strived on collective learning and sharing. Collaborative Development – breaking institutional boundaries, geographical barriers and cutting across human intellect is here to stay.

For a technology which promises to collapse cost models, bring unprecedented transparency and result in almost 10x efficiency gains in some cases, we need to do more. Even for the sake of our customers who crave security and can get it without remembering numerous passwords and passphrases, we need to accelerate the usage of biometric applications.

Perhaps a community approach to envisioning new use cases and collaborative technology development of use cases could well send biometric adoption on a hyperbolic path. During a recent session with a group of close entrepreneurial friends, I chanced upon the idea of creating a “Collaborative Biometric AppNet” – serving two purposes – on one hand to accelerate the adoption of biometric technology and on the other creating an angel support platform for young technology startups to build a plethora of business applications with biometrics as a fundamental layer. The seed support to these startups coming in the form of biometric technology workbench and technical guidance – all of these could be constraints for a young startup to invest; becoming available through the collaborative development platform and at nominal considerations. With a number of startups onboard, the collective whole of applications developed could result in dramatic use cases – something that businesses may not have even imagined today.

So as I get all charged up to give final shape to the Collaborative Biometric AppNet, do send me your views – after all, if the central theme is collaboration, its only apt that it starts with concept itself.

March 23, 2014

Imagining Elections – From EVM to NVM

As the five year term of the 15th Lok Sabha in India draws to a close, there is a growing belief in the nation that the upcoming General Elections may well prove to be a milestone – an election which has the potential to shape the collective vision, conscience and future of India. I am not a political observer but I do believe that each one of us, irrespective of our beliefs and affiliations, should exercise the right to vote and help shape this future. This is the strength of the democracy that we as a nation are blessed with – thanks to the architects of free India.

As we gear up for a massive schedule of the General Elections – a quick look at the facts is almost dizzying. The total electorate in the country as per the final published e-rolls is approximately 814.5 million – which represents a growth of over 100 million voters over the electoral rolls of 2009. Quite remarkably, 23 million additions have happened in the age group of 18 to 19 years. The elections, scheduled to be held between 7^th April ‘14 and 12^th May ‘14 – the longest in the history of Indian Adult Franchise, will see polling action at nearly 930,000 Polling Stations across the nation. The country is projected to have over 1,878,000 ballot units. The scale is scary, the expenditure burden on the nation gigantic and the task of preventing malpractices such as impersonation herculean.

We have progressed as a nation, so has the election process – adoption of technology is not only making the process simpler but increasingly tamperproof. The adoption of Electronic Voting Machines in itself was a significant step – resulting in far lesser errors in the voting process and a significant reduction in the effort it took to get through the counting. On the process front, adoption of Photo Electoral Rolls marks another improvement.

I wonder if the nation is ready to take the next big leap – digitizing and bringing the elections over the internet, if not completely, at least for significant part of the country, particularly the urbane environments which have ready connectivity and a means to access the internet either through the comforts of home or through the numerous internet cafes. Vote from Home – this has convenience, comfort, higher participation, dramatic cost reduction written all over it, if only there was a way to secure the process.

There might just be a way to secure and make it tamper proof – with nearly half the population of the country already in possession of their Aadhaar Numbers and the pace of enrolment galloping ahead, are we far from the days of near 100% Aadhaar Saturation across the country? Couple this with Aadhaar’s Identity Authentication and technically we can make elections completely digital – hosted on a cloud.

So, what do we really need before we take this profound step of a Cloud Hosted Election? For starters, we need the Electoral Rolls and Aadhaar Databases to be mapped – a direct use case of Aadhaar Seeding. If the Electoral Rolls could be Aadhaar Seeded, it would not just open the highway for Aadhaar Authenticated Elections but will also lend an enduring electoral roll management system.

Imagine, with a simple biometric device connected to your computer at home, you logon to Election Commission’s Election Cloud. Next thing you know, you have chosen your constituency from one of the 543 going to elections. Lo and Behold!! See the list of candidates unfold. Make your choice and sign it off with your fingerprint. Over the cloud, Aadhaar Authentication happens. The system determines if you are the indeed the authentic voter and your vote is cast. Welcome to the Net Voting Machine.

Simply from the confines of your home and the nearest café! Wouldn’t you vote if exercising your franchise was hassle free and as secure and comfortable as this. Wouldn’t the nation save billions which could be ploughed back into the economy rather than in the process of choosing our elected representatives?

While we await a technology leap, let us ensure that we vote in the traditional way this time.

February 23, 2014

Did Internet Really Virtualise the Business ? The Missing Piece…

As the internet made its foray into virtually every segment of our lives – commerce, business, social and even personal – pundits across the world were quick to write the epitaph of brick-and-mortar businesses of all hues and all affiliations. Much of what was predicted has come true despite the humiliating dotcom crash and the ripples that emanated as an after effect of the same.

Never mind the deep rooted impact of internet on the global community; it still remains a fact that not all brick and mortar models die a gradual death, as was quite emphatically predicted. One needs to look a bit deeper to unravel the mystery – one which is related to the basic DNA of the business in question.

A number of businesses witnessed accelerated erosion of brick-and-mortar models – these ones largely being faceless businesses, as I call them. They either did not require the identity of the individuals transacting with internet or were not fundamentally linked to the verification of such identity.

On the other hand, there are businesses that indeed need a definitive ratification of the identity of the individual actually transacting. In their case, it is fundamental that an authenticated identity of the consumer be established before completing a transaction. As the context of commerce grew, such businesses adopted a number of authentication mechanisms which at best could not guarantee if the consumer was indeed the face behind the net transacting on his own behalf.

Take the example of a credit card payment, can an e-commerce portal ever be 100% sure that the person transacting with its site is definitely the person whose credit card he is using for transaction ?Couldn’t he simply be in possession of the credit card details? I think, in varying degrees, it is this apprehension on adequate security, that has limited the growth of true commerce and a wholesome switch from brick-and-mortar models.

Imagine this – if only there was an easy way to combine the reach of internet with the explicit, undeniable assurance of the face behind the net, wouldn’t internet go through a commerce and interaction explosion?

Amazingly, we are not far away from this reality – what seemed like a dream, is ready for a reality leap today. Applying biometric authentication can easily ensure – that while the net cannot see the person, the net is assured of the physical presence of the person doing the transaction.

Imagine if each Indian home was to have a small biometric device, capable of capturing his fingerprint – in some form connected to the Aadhaar Platform, performing identity authentication – then this could easily be linked to multiple commerce and social networking contexts on the internet. A device at home becoming the tool of identity on the internet, the “face” behind “faceless” internet !!

The biometric authentication would almost work as an IaaS (Identity as a service) and liberate the whole context of security on the net. I would be able to use Aadhaar Authentication security to secure access to my bank account, to my social networking sites and to the e-commerce portals, to name a few.

Isn’t this technology liberation, the biometric way ?

February 18, 2014

Aadhaar to continue, and so will Direct Benefits Transfer …

With the dust on the whole issue of the Aadhaar Scheme and Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme’s continued relevance settling with the Finance Minister’s announcement today (of its continuance in his vote-of-account), I felt a sense of relief, that the FM did not give-in to politics in decision making, but rather stood behind the economic and fiscal rationale of the Aadhaar program.

As someone baptized and energized on the applicability of Aadhaar based subsidy disbursement to bring complete transparency and efficiency in distributing over 2.47 lakh crore Rupees food, fertilizer and fuel subsidy, and much more, I need no convincing on the profound impact of the announcement which ratifies the continued relevance of Aadhaar and DBT.

Aadhaar database of identities is beyond doubt the world’s largest and most secure identity database. With the launch of Aadhaar’s authentication and eKYC services, it promises to be central to most initiatives in this country which require resident identity as a fundamental truth. The fact, as I have stated in my earlier views on the subject, remains that Aadhaar database still needs to be connected to legacy databases for Aadhaar Number to become truly operational in service delivery. And therein lays the larger challenge which the government/government bodies such as banks, and commercial organizations are grappling with today.

For the Aadhaar payment bridge to completely eradicate the malaise of the older distribution models, the bank accounts and other social benefit ID’s of individuals or households need to be linked to their respective Aadhaar numbers. And it is critical to acknowledge that a wrongly seeded database could be a bad start. The secure and reliable Aadhaar database would have been corrupted by an ill-created seeded database cousin forever ! The good news is that there is a better way of doing things than is being presently deployed.

There is this whole debate on the most secure and reliable manner of connecting the various databases and, of course, the whole discussion on who shall perform this database unification. Is it only a bank’s responsibility to seed its account holders’ database with Aadhaar number? Is it really efficient for each bank to launch an outreach program independently to seed their databases when almost the same population is required to link their Aadhaar numbers with a multitude of other legacy ID’s such as other bank account numbers, ration card, PAN card, driving license, NREGA job card etc to name a few. Wouldn’t this be a massive drain on national resources if each individual organization was to launch an independent seeding program? And what about resident convenience !

If the mechanism and business model of achieving seeding was not interesting enough, we are also faced with fundamental issues of what constitutes “secure” and “reliable” seeding. A simple paper based mapping of one’s Bank Account Number and Aadhaar Number cannot, surely, be called a secure seeding, even if it is backed by document verification. Consider a solution which could in almost in an automated / technology assisted manner verify an individual’s account credentials while using Aadhaar’s eKYC on the other hand to verify basic identity of the individual – would such a successful dual verification not be the real aadhaar of an Aadhaar Seeded Legacy Database !!

Ultimately, in order to bring the convenience and cost efficiency of one-and-done seeding, there is a need for appointment of Seeding Agencies with the mandate to perform seeding for a number of organizations – in a one-to-many mode rather than individual organizations undertaking such a task in a disjointed and often less than optimal technology assisted manner.