In an age dominated by digital interactions and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the world is grappling with a crisis of trust. Trust, a foundational element of any society, has come under siege due to a plethora of fraudulent activities made possible by technological advancements. From deepfake scams that utilise AI-generated images and voices to reseller scams plaguing online marketplaces, the erosion of trust has profound implications for both individuals and organisations.
To that end, digital trust is critical in navigating this evolving landscape. Now, more than ever, data protection and cybersecurity also call for the authentication of digital identities and credentials. This article explores the challenges posed by the crisis of trust, the shifting paradigm of digital trust, and the promising role of verifiable technology in restoring and strengthening trust in our digital interactions.
The crisis of trust
Rise of deepfake scams
One of the most concerning facets of the trust crisis is the worldwide proliferation of deepfake scams. More recently, a fraud syndicate in Hong Kong shocked the world by using AI-generated images of individuals whose identity cards were stolen to obtain bank loans. This marked a watershed moment in the use of deepfake technology for criminal purposes.
Closer to home in Singapore, fraudsters have exploited AI to create fake legal practising licenses, and we continue to observe a rise in reseller scams. In particular, popular platforms like Carousell have become breeding grounds for unscrupulous individuals who sell counterfeit tickets, such as tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.
On unregulated marketplaces such as Instagram, Facebook, and Carousell, fraudulent sellers impersonate official brands and deceive buyers into making payments via mobile transactions. Imposters don’t deliver purchased products, leaving the consumer with empty hands whilst severely undermining the trust in brands and purchasing experiences on such digital platforms.
Digital data exchange and erosion of trust
Reseller scams not only betray the trust of consumers but also tarnish the reputation of legitimate resellers and organisations themselves. The erosion of trust in online marketplaces and interactions with businesses has far-reaching consequences, impacting the willingness of users to engage in digital transactions.
With these incidents being recent occurrences, they highlight the rapid evolution of technology in the realm of fraud and underscore the urgency of addressing the trust deficit in digital transactions. The shift from physical to digital data exchange and social interactions on the internet has created an extensive repository of audio, video, and image rendering for fraudulent activities.
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This has led to an erosion of trust in the authenticity of information exchanged digitally, with individuals and organisations left questioning the veracity of the data they encounter online.
The evolution of digital trust
In response to the crisis of trust, however, a fundamental shift is occurring within the realm of digital trust. Digital trust is no longer confined to safeguarding data and cybersecurity but is now centred around the authenticity of digital identity, transactions, and interactions. The big question now is: how can people and organisations trust that the data they receive digitally is not fake?
The shift towards identity and data verification is also reflected in the budget and effort that businesses are now investing in. According to a McKinsey survey, companies that prioritise establishing trust in their products and experiences are more likely to experience an annual growth rate of at least 10 per cent in their top and bottom lines compared to those that do not. Around US$49 billion a day is spent by organisations globally on discovering and implementing ways to augment digital trust in their systems and brands.
The trade-off between accessibility and security
However, traditional methods of achieving digital trust, including legacy systems and data protection policies, are often cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. One of the enduring challenges in the digital trust landscape is the trade-off between accessibility and security.
Enhancing accessibility to personal and organisational data often necessitates relaxing security measures, creating vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit. Striking the right balance between accessibility and security has always been a perpetual challenge.
So, how can companies quickly keep up with the growing demand for digital trust now that it is no longer a good-to-have but a must-have in this new era of AI?
Verifiable technology: A solution for the digital trust deficit
In the quest to meet the growing demand for digital trust, emerging technologies are coming to the forefront. Blockchain-driven verifiable technology is positioned as a powerful solution with a cloud-based approach. It offers an additional layer of security that can be seamlessly integrated into an organisation’s existing digital technology infrastructure, making it a quick and affordable solution to adopt.
Accredify’s TrustTech, for example, enables organisations to create and issue instantly verifiable, tamper-proof digital documents and credentials through a simple QR code scan. These verifiable documents carry four key points of verification: they have not been tampered with, they are issued by a recognised institution, they have been issued, and they have not expired or been revoked.
In the process of issuing a document to an individual or organisation, Accredify encrypts all data within the document issued to the blockchain – a process known as hashing. This makes recipients the sole owners of the information within the documents issued to them, creating full data ownership and allowing recipients to become a medium for trusted data distribution.
Applications of verifiable technology are industry-agnostic and are already in use by government bodies in Singapore – a market leader in the adoption and implementation of emerging technologies for digital transformation.
For instance, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) employs verifiable technology for various purposes. This means that every time a company is created, it is issued a verifiable business certificate and profile that can be traced back to ACRA’s database.
For traders in the finance industry, this technology allows them to save on unnecessary expenses associated with buying a new business certificate whenever they have to confirm the shareholders – now, they receive an automatic update whenever the business certificate and profile have been changed. It also allows stakeholders in other countries to perform instant cross-border verification of a business’s information for KYC purposes, further establishing Singapore as a trusted business hub.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Manpower have also utilised verifiable technology effectively to manage the population’s health during the COVID-19 pandemic when travellers were buying their COVID-19 vaccination certificates off a global black market.
Today, even regulators or the Ministry of Law can adopt the use of verifiable technology to issue verifiable reseller certificates and valid legal practising licenses, vastly minimising and potentially totally preventing any aforementioned issues related to counterfeit documents.
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Another application of verifiable technology is its potential to help unregulated marketplaces such as Facebook and Instagram incorporate verifiable seller certificates into a user’s profile. The process could be as follows: verifiable credentials issued by the seller’s bank provide crucial information, including the seller’s name, social media URL, physical address, as well as payment details.
Sellers can share their verifiable credentials via a unique QR with buyers, allowing consumers to use their banking app to instantly verify the seller’s identity, ensuring a secure transaction process.
Against this backdrop, verifiable data and documents can be seamlessly shared across an organisation’s existing data silos, between entities, and even across international borders. Individuals become the conduits for the exchange and transfer of information, granting them full ownership and data portability. This interconnected web of verifiable data creates a global village where trust is no longer an abstract concept but an inherent attribute of all shared data.
A trustless future and transition to a verifiable data ecosystem
The world needs to embrace the next stage of digital innovation. From physical documents to digital documents, verifiable documents and data represent the upcoming wave of digital transformation. More importantly, the invention of verifiable technology heralds a new normal in the medium by which we exchange information with each other.
But verifiable technology is just an enabler – what is necessary is for all stakeholders such as banks, digital platforms, and individuals, to collaborate and use this technology to restore trust and transparency in online transactions.
In a world besieged by the crisis of trust, the adoption of verifiable technology offers a pathway to a trustless future – one where the concept of trust no longer exists because any data shared between entities is naturally true-to-source and authentic.
Verifiable technology holds the potential to reshape our digital interactions for the better, allowing us to benefit from AI technology whilst maintaining protective measures against their malicious use. By leveraging these technologies for good, we can create a future where trust is a given in our digital landscape, not an elusive aspiration.
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Image credit: 123rf-peshkova
This article was first published on October 3, 2023
The post Building digital trust in an era of AI: The role of verifiable technology appeared first on e27.