By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Probably from 2009, people will not have to create online accounts or download public certificates to identify themselves in cyberspace thanks to all-in-one identification software.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said Friday that the state-backed agency will develop the program in two years.
Currently, people have to sign up on Web sites to do financial transactions or get graduation certificates, but the new identification software package will get rid of all the cumbersome procedures, ETRI spokesman Chong Kil-ho said.
``This software, which we call a digital identification purse, will remove such hassles because the software automatically certifies the identity of its users,'' Chong said.
Chong said the software will be stored on personal computers or handheld devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants.
``We think the software will be in use in about two years. We want to move ahead of other rivals in the lucrative digital identification purse market via technical leadership,'' Chong said.
Toward that end, the Daejeon-based ETRI, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft, the world's foremost maker of software.
ETRI expects the global digital identification purse-related market to reach $20 billion in 2009
ETRI also hopes the identification tool will do away with concerns on the leakage of personal data like resident registration numbers, the Korean equivalent to the U.S. social security numbers. The resident registration number, composed of 13 digits, contains a lot of personal information including birth data, gender and first registration region. Most domestic Web sites ask for the resident numbers for new subscribers.
The leakage and illegal usage of the information-packed numbers have made identity theft one of the fastest-growing crimes in Korea.
However, the digital identification purse may generate fresh security troubles. For example, it would be disastrous should unscrupulous criminals steal the purse, the key to all personal data.
``We understand there can be worries on the security of the digital purse especially when they are in the wrong hands,'' Chong said. ``We are developing a solution that makes the software work for only its legitimate users.''