Digital identity protection tool backed by Australian bank sends alerts for fraud

The venture scaling arm of Australia’s biggest bank has launched a digital identity protection tool that will alert users to potential identity theft or data breaches. Truyu is a project led by x15ventures, which is owned by Commonwealth Bank. Currently piloting with early customers, the digital ID app is a response to Australia’s significant problem with identity fraud, which a report in Finextra says now impacts almost 200,000 Australians a year.

A post on LinkedIn says users who sign up for Truyu will get alerts “the moment your identity is being used – or misused – online at major merchants, and if your email has been exposed in a data breach.” The project was developed with independent digital design studio Supermassive, integrating technology from identity vendor GBG, and will be available to consumers of any bank. “We can’t wait to see how it helps protect Australians from the financial, emotional, and social damage caused by identity fraud, and share what we learn along the way,” says the post.

Of course, to protect your identity data, Truyu needs your identity data. “We get it – protecting  information by sharing information seems like a catch-22,” says a section on the Truyu website. “But with Truyu, your security is our focus, which means the minimal details we require are hashed and encrypted on our services, so no one, including us, can see them.”

And yet, the app is hardly an altruistic project. It is already available for download on the App Store and Google Play, and x15ventures has plans to market it as a service for merchants. Toby Norton-Smith, the venture firm’s managing director, calls Truyu “a great vehicle – already in the hands of consumers – to test what propositions drive most engagement and value for consumers, and how we can also reduce the cost for merchants to manage and respond to identity fraud.”

This week, Australian Minister for Finance and the Public Service Katy Gallagher announced $288.1 million in funding over a four-year period for Australia’s government-issued digital ID framework. In its recently launched International Identity Index, GBG ranks Australia’s digital ecosystem 22nd on a list of 48 countries.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  fraud prevention  |  GBG