More collaboration needed to secure biometrics and digital ID in 2026

There is a general consensus on what the dominant trends in identity are as 2025 draws to a close. How they will play out markets like identity verification, biometric authentication and ID issuance is less certain, but those participating in them have some ideas.

More AI, and AI agents in particular, more sophisticated fraud and the deprecation of more legacy multi-factor authentication systems are popular predictions. The deepfake problem will get worse before it gets better, most seem in agreement.

Reality Defender Co-founder and CEO Ben Colman says AI agents are partially to blame. On a more optimistic note, however, he also sees deepfake detection and cross-industry collaboration ultimately gaining ground.

Reusable identity and evolved IDV

In digital identity, Trinsic sees mobile driver’s license (mDL) verification finally taking off during 2026, particularly in the U.S. and Australia, but is worried about the digital IDs becoming politicized. The company also expects Apple Wallet to extend support for digital IDs into Canada, though mDLs will be around evenly split between OEM wallets and “jurisdiction-specific” ones. The UK public will continue to show a preference for reusable digital IDs provided by the private sector. In emerging markets, a billion people could become eligible for wallet-based digital IDs.

A potential brake on the progress of digital ID adoption, however, could come from insistence on “privacy maximalism.”

Au10tix CEO Yair Tal is more optimistic on this front, seeing verifiable credentials, when paired with continuous risk intelligence, resolving “the privacy paradox.”

Jumio is likewise watching the balance between privacy and biometric authentication closely, as it too predicts reusable identity to become the standard. The introduction of age restrictions for social media is just the beginning of a larger shift, Jumio predicts, with identity verification requirements for social platforms as part of a push to reduce security risks by decentralizing customer data.

“As reusable identity becomes the standard, the market will split into two groups: those with a reusable identity network at global critical mass and everyone else,” says Jumio CPO and CTO Bala Kumar. “The first group will deliver frictionless experiences, detect fraud patterns that only emerge across ecosystems, and materially reduce operational costs. Everyone else will be stuck re-verifying users repeatedly — paying more, converting less, and missing the signals that matter.”

Adaptive, orchestrated identity verification that can handle emerging fraud tactics is also a growing trend, according to Regula’s “What’s Reshaping IDV in Banking & Fintech: 2026 Trends and Predictions” report, as AI supercharges fraud and IDV goes from a regulatory requirement to a competitive priority.

Daon echoes above predictions about digital wallet and AI agent adoption scaling and deepfakes becoming a central concern. The company also identifies two trends in identity verification: biometric verification moving toward device edges and employment verification transitioning from pre-hire screening to a continuous process.

Verifiable credentials becoming standard for employment screening is among a fascinating set of 10 predictions from iProov includes several specific incidents the company is anticipating. The company also expects more airport automation.

Storm watch 2026

Forecasts for growth in digital identity adoption and stronger systems for biometric authentication are tempered somewhat by worries about talent, fragmentation and political will.

On the negative side, iProov forecasts a third-party synthetic identity causing a national power grid disruption, the discovery of a huge “sleeper cell” of previously undetected accounts belonging to synthetic identities.

SecureAuth Board Strategic Advisor Joseph Dhanapal is concerned that a likely shortage of digital identity experts will hinder organizations trying to make the most of their identity and access management (IAM) tools.

3DiVi warns that the facial recognition market is fragmenting, and different countries or geopolitical blocs are working on their identity architecture. The result could be the emergence of regional biometrics hubs in 2026.

BioCatch Director of Global Advisory for EMEA Jonathan Frost worries that fraud strategies in the UK and EU are losing momentum, and “2026 risks becoming another transitional year. Criminal innovation is accelerating, and policymakers must decide whether to keep reacting or try to get ahead of the curve.”

The tide can only be turned on fraud next year, Frost says, with a coordinated response across sectors.

Whether to thwart deepfakes in particular, reduce sophisticated fraud more generally or build up digital ID networks, it is clear that digital identity and biometrics vendors are hoping for more collaboration in the year ahead.

Article Topics

3DiVi  |  AU10TIX  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  Daon  |  digital ID  |  iProov  |  Jumio  |  Reality Defender  |  Regula  |  SecureAuth  |  Trinsic