The threat to the integrity of the U.S. and global financial system posed by the crisis in online identity is a national security issue, a senior Treasury Department official told the 2021 Federal Identity Forum and Expo Monday.
“We … view identity as a national security issue,” explained Kay Turner, senior counselor for digital identity, inclusion and payment infrastructure to the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN is a bureau of the Treasury Department that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions and markets to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other banking-related crimes.
She laid out a series of threats from cyber criminals, exploiting weaknesses in the security of identity processes at every level of the banking system: From fraudulent account creation enabled by the mass breach of supposedly secret personal data like Social Security numbers, to credential stuffing attacks and account takeover of existing accounts.
Repeated massive data breaches, dumped on the dark web, “have permanently exposed billions of personally identifiable information and credentials, placing an asymmetric burden on customers and society,” she observed.
“We're seeing criminals increasingly exploit vulnerabilities in identity systems to commit fraud, cyber crime and other illicit activities,” Turner said.