IACSP Interview with Paul Townsend

CISSP, Product Manager, Digital Identity at Acuant

In a new interview we speak with digital identity expert Paul Townsend, CISSP of Acuant.

Here we discuss the key changes to the fraud landscape impacting US government agencies, the challenges faced and the digital identity equation that must be solved and how evolving identity verification tactics, methods and standards are setting a new stage in the field.

Q: How has the fraud landscape changed in recent years?

A: As the number of U.S. citizens interacting with government agencies online grew significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the door to fraud was opened, extending new opportunities to criminals. Many of the programs introduced as a way to ease pandemic-related hardships were prime targets for fraud, particularly unemployment schemes targeting states across the country.

Unfortunately, the lack of solutions and processes in place for identity verification made it easy for criminals to easily perpetrate fraud. Although some states were more prepared than others, even those with processes in place weren’t doing a thorough job and simply verifying static information, such as home addresses or dates of birth. In many cases, records were not cross-referenced to ensure that the person filing the unemployment claim was still alive.

We saw the same with PPP loans as efforts were made to get money into people’s hands as quickly as possible, which made it easier for criminals to take advantage of the syste...