One World, One Logon

December 7th, 2006: A new UN agency report has found that identity theft is becoming an increasingly large problem, warning that unless something is done, it could strangle net commerce as consumers lose confidence in the security of online transactions.

The sheer amount of online services that require registration, usernames and passwords is causing many people to re-use the same passwords, something the UN says significantly increases the risk of identity theft.

In its 2006 report, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says that because there are so many disparate systems that people need separate logons for, it is virtually inevitable that they will re-use passwords. If an identity thief gets their hands on this, then they very well may have the keys to the kingdom.

"The lack of co-ordination in identification systems is a source of growing inconvenience to users, and needs to be addressed rapidly," the report reads. "Key challenges in developing a more consistent approach are to tackle the conflicting requirements of privacy, identification and security."

The Geneva-based ITU has called on companies to develop strategies and systems to manage personal information, and ideally unify and streamline identification systems.

Identity management is already a large problem in the business world, with a single, cohesive solution still to come to the forefront. Developing a unified system for the rest of the world, while necessary, is a new beast altogether. It will be interesting to see who takes up the challenge.

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