Students expect tougher digital identity protection
As students head back to university and college and engage with more digital platforms than ever, new research shows today’s tech-savvy demographic is sounding the alarm on digital identity protection as AI-generated scams surge.
The 2025 Online Identity Study from Jumio shows students globally are both early adopters of generative AI, with 70 percent using AI to create or modify images, but also the group most exposed to its risks.
Six steps to safeguarding your digital identity
We lose a bit of our digital privacy with every data breach that occurs. A breach like the one at AT&T -- which exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information needed for identity theft -- is particularly serious in the landscape of data breaches. The percentage of users with Social Security numbers exposed in our data bases following the AT&T breach increased from less than 1 percent to almost 15 percent. Sensitive personal information getting out -- especially when it's easily accessible on the public internet, not just the dark web, which requires special software to be accessed -- opens you up to a huge risk of abuse.
The most notable threat users face is the potential for identity theft, where malicious actors access email, bank, and credit card accounts to impersonate victims. This can also include gaining unauthorized access to accounts by resetting passwords and even taking control of your phone number to bypass text message confirmations. What’s more, if a thief has access to your personal details, they might go as far as taking out loans or credit cards in your name -- a tactic that remains one of the most common types of identity theft.
Solving the UK's digital identity dilemma
Earlier this year, a report was published in the UK with the aim of tackling the UK’s productivity and innovation crisis. Tony Blair and Lord William Hague are fronting the recommendations made, with a particular view to encourage the widespread adoption of digital ID cards. This has driven a discussion around the general public’s distrust towards government-controlled data schemes.
What’s interesting is that much of the UK population probably don’t realize just how many government IDs they already have; think tax returns, benefits, council payments and, of course, driving licenses. But even so, does this mean the UK is ready for a formal digital identity card? Many are more than happy to keep these various forms of ID in a disjointed manner, despite the inconvenience and inefficiency. Yet, the key issue here is trust, and the public needs to believe there is no overreach when they log in to a service.