One day without digital identity

Imagine your digital identity suddenly disappears one day. Would this disappearance have a direct impact on your day-to-day life? Or would it make no significant difference in your life? What would everyday life look like if there was no digital authentication, no electronic records and no way of proving your identity online?

What is a digital identity?

A digital identity refers to all the information used to identify a person or a company within a digital system. As a digital representation of a person on the internet or within computer systems. Digital identities are required, amongst other things, for logging into various services, secure communication, concluding online contracts, electronic signatures, online government services and for payment services.

A digital identity offers many advantages for both individuals and businesses, as well as the convenience of being able to access online services or complete administrative procedures in a very short period. It also provides a more sustainable alternative to signing on paper.

A-Trust as a key player in the field of digital identities

As an Austrian trust service provider, A-Trust provides digital certificates and signature services, which are required, for the ID Austria. In addition to qualified electronic signatures, A-Trust also issues qualified and legally valid seals for businesses, thereby offering a secure and more sustainable alternative to traditional signatures or seals on paper.

Not only does this digital identity facilitate the e-government and various other services but also PDF signature services. A-Trust ensures that the identity of a person or organization can be unequivocally verified. This trust infrastructure forms the basis for many digital services that are now taken for granted by many people.

What would a day in Austria be like without digital identity?

One of the biggest difficulties would probably be that all e-government services linked to the ID Austria - such as simply changing one's registered address, applying for a polling card or signing a referendum petition - would no longer be available, and these processes would have to be carried out in person, which would be considerably more cumbersome.

However, if all digital identities - not just the ID Austria - were to disappear, the consequences would be far more serious. One example of this would be the restriction or complete cessation of card payments and online banking processes at banks. Withdrawing money from cash machines would also become more difficult. For businesses, the impact would be different: in some cases, employees would no longer be able to log into time-recording systems or similar platforms. The qualified electronic signature (QES), which makes everyday office life more efficient and sustainable, through digital signing – would also be lost. This shows that everyday life, in an already highly digitalised world, would be made more difficult by the loss of a digital identity, and many services would no longer be usable in the form we have today.

Outlook: The future of digital identity

Through initiatives such as the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) and the European Business Wallet, the European Union is working to make digital identities usable across Europe and valid across national borders. It is not only businesses that benefit from these wallets, but also private individuals, for whom the wallet enables secure control over their data across Europe.

The thought of a day without digital identity highlights one thing above all: digital identities have long since become an indispensable part of our everyday lives and are now an integral part of today’s innovative and increasing digital world. A day without a digital identity shows us just how we now take digital trust infrastructures for granted. What often operates behind the scenes forms the basis for secure digital processes, economic operations and modern administrative services. Digital identity is therefore no longer merely a technical solution, but an essential building block of our digital society.