One Nation is a fringe right-wing political party that has only a few elected representatives in Australia, but it is worth taking note of the way they recently used the topic of SIM swap fraud to justify their opposition to the creation of a national digital ID scheme. Per an article published on the party website on April 12:
A recent incident involving Townsville business owner Andrew Ryder, who lost $10,000 in a SIM-swap scam, underscores the vulnerability even cautious individuals face. This fraud method allowed scammers to hijack his mobile phone number and subsequently access his bank accounts and digital life…
…This episode highlights significant flaws in the current safeguards against digital identity theft. Imagine the damage that could be done to a person’s life and reputation if your proposed national Digital ID was stolen?
The argument is made stronger by the observation that SIM swaps still occur despite Australia being unusually forthright in tackling scams. On the other hand, many Australians will be conscious of the farcical mishandling of their personal data by telecoms operator Optus, who last year allowed ID data for 10 million Australians to be compromised via a leaky API. As One Nation points out, centralizing personal identification data also means creating a single point of failure.
One Nation also raised the potential for abuse by the government.
Imagine this scenario: A left-wing government minister disapproves of a dissenting voice. This minister then collaborates with a like-minded bureaucrat to scrutinise the opposition individual’s assets through the ID system. Their objective is to determine if the opposition has the financial capacity to counteract a series of legal challenges potentially planned against them. Such misuse of power is not only plausible but also likely, emphasising the risks of a National Digital ID system. Remember, the targeted opposition could very well be you.
They then go on to observe that the perceived risk of giving the government so much data will be influenced by whether you support or oppose the people in charge.
This scenario is one of many that dystopian left wing governments will deploy to target opposition under the National Digital ID system. Those that are on the left have to realise that that a right wing government minister and their bureaucrats may have the same ability.
I do not think One Nation’s arguments withstand much scrutiny. SIM swap fraud occurs because of weak authentication methods adopted by banks and encouraged by telcos who wanted to sell bulk SMS messaging services without admitting the risks created by funneling so many one-time passwords through such an insecure channel. The banking system is not a government-owned monopoly but common practice has already put large swathes of the public at risk. The authorities could prohibit the use of SMS for two-factor authentication of banking transactions, as they have in Malaysia. However, the public is increasingly aware of the extent to which telecoms and data-related failures have put them at risk. That is why politicians will increasingly talk about those failures when making their pitch to ordinary voters, unless the telco and banking industries put their houses in order.
You will find the full One Nation article about identity theft and digital ID by looking here.
