Identity
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AML compliance | Identity theft | Identity fraud | Identity management | ID theft | Prevent identity fraud | Identity fraud reduction
There are 3 kinds of identity :
- Biographical Identity - name, age, things that are defined at birth
- Attributed Identity - details one picks up as they go through life. Where they live, education, nationality, etc...
- Biometric Identity - details that one cannot change, part of your genetic makeup - fingerprints, etc...
An identity is made up of characteristics that gives uniqueness. A person's identity is what gives them individuality and distinctiveness from others. More specifically the identity of a person can be the name by which they are known. In philosophy the law of identity states that an object is always the same as itself, this law of identity is attributed to Aristotle.
But the word identity comes from the Latin "idem" which means "the same" so identity can also be the sameness or character some individuals can share to make up the same kind, like a national identity. This could also refer to a set of characteristics or behaviour patterns which identifies an individual as a member of a certain group.
In this day and age, identity can refer to personal details. An identity can be a name, age or address. An identity maybe shown on documentation such as a passport or driving licence. An identity number may be used to allow access to certain accounts, rooms in a building, or certain pages on a computer.
GB Group is the UK's leading electronic identity management provider and are expanding internationally. We help organisations to operate safely and responsibly with regards to identity verification especially those in markets that are under regulatory and financial pressure to raise ID and age verification standards due to rising ID theft, money laundering and terrorism.
Who should have Access to Others' Identity
It sometimes seems that anything that a person does requires some form of verifying their identity. Whether a person is at the bank and needs to provide their bank statement, or whether they are at the grocery store and need to provide their zip or postal code, somebody always seems to need to know who they are. While this may seem ridiculous at times, it's important for people to understand who needs their identity and who it should be kept away from.
Just about any company that a person receives a bill from will have access to some form of their identity. This is because when a person first becomes a consumer of that company, they will provide basic personal information such as their name, address, and birth date and the company will use that information and attach it to an account number. This is essential so that the consumer and the company can communicate with each other and the consumer can be easily identifiable by simply stating their account number. Banks also work in this same fashion. Banks have a lot of identity information regarding their customers because this is such a personal area of a person's life. Banks will supply a bank account number and will have in exchange, almost any personal financial information pertaining to that customer. This is a perfectly legitimate and necessary form of someone having someone else's identity.
However, a person's identity is a very valuable thing and criminals sometimes realize this and try to take advantage of it. If a criminal finds out enough information about a person's identity, they can quickly and easily start to use it as their own and begin to accumulate debts, bad credit, and many other horrible acts that could really ruin the person who had their identity stolen. For this reason, it's important to understand who is asking for the identification and why they need it. One of the most important things a person could ever do is protect their identity by always questioning who needs it and what they intend to do with it.