Scottish Government joins OIX to access expertise in online identity verification

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The Scottish Government has joined the Online Identity Exchange (OIX), an international non-profit organisation made up of leaders from different business sectors that promotes good practice in digital identity verification.

OIX collaborates with governments, councils, identity providers and others to address challenges around digital identity.

The Scottish Government’s Online Identity Assurance team has been working over the last few months to develop a common approach to online identity assurance for access to public services.

This is the process where a person who wants to access a public service online can sign in and prove who they are in a safe, secure way.

Following a ‘discovery’ phase of gathering information on people’s experiences of proving their identity online, along with the technical options that are available, the next phase, ‘alpha’, where some ideas are tested, is due to launch in September.

The Scottish Government team has looked at best practice worldwide, particularly the way that the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) has worked with the private sector to tackle common issues around digital identity verification and authentication.

GDS has collaborated with OIX on a number of projects over the last five years to develop solutions for issues around identity.

To begin with, OIX will be hosting two workshops with in Edinburgh, bringing members of the Scottish Government team and other interested areas of the Scottish public sector together with OIX members, including specialist technical companies and identity providers within OIX’s community.

They will explore in detail the team’s current plans for the alpha phase of development and how they could form part of those plans.

In a blog post, team member Ross Clark said: “As a worldwide, non-profit, cross-sector membership organisation that provides industry leadership for online identity assurance, OIX are a natural fit with the aims of what we are seeking to do in Scotland.”