GOV.UK One Login bank account verification, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): The UK government has released an update on an upcoming change to GOV.UK One Login, a platform used by approximately 23 million Britons to access services including the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for state pension and benefits information, HMRC for tax records and National Insurance details, and the DVLA for renewing driving licences. The platform can also be used to access childcare services and other government facilities.
The system was launched to give people a single account for reaching government services online. However, senior MPs have raised concerns that it could be vulnerable to hackers, with one describing it as “scandalously insecure.” The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which is responsible for the service, has said that it reduces fraud.
Minister Stephanie Peacock, responding on Friday to a question from Devon MP Martin Wrigley about the system’s adequacy for people who have difficulty confirming their identity, said: “Government is committed to ensuring GOV.UK One Login is as accessible as possible, while protecting users and the government from the risks of fraud. GOV.UK One Login offers multiple ways for users to prove their identity: through the app, online security questions or in-person via the Post Office.”
Peacock outlined planned changes. “We are expanding the ways people can prove their identity, including a new option launching next year that will enable users to prove their identity by securely logging into their bank account,” she said.
“People receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can already use information about their benefit to help prove their identity. We are working with DWP to extend this to a wider range of benefits.
Where users cannot or choose not to use GOV.UK One Login, government services are required to provide alternative routes.”
The DWP announced in May that claimants could check a number of benefits through the service. At the time, it said: “You can now get proof of your DWP benefits or State Pension online.” Claimants could download a benefits letter to a device or request a printed letter by post.
Benefits that can be accessed through One Login were listed in the original report.
The government announced in September that passkeys were being rolled out across One Login. Officials say passkeys allow people to log in securely using their PIN, Face ID or fingerprint instead of typing or remembering a password, and that passkey logins are up to eight times faster than signing in with a username, password and two-step verification code.
Officials say passkeys can help protect people from phishing and other cyber threats.
Senior Conservative MP David Davis, a civil liberties campaigner, has long criticized the scheme. During a Westminster Hall debate late last year, he described the single log-in system as a “strategic weakness” and said the government’s management of it had been a “disaster.” He warned that the system could leave citizens vulnerable to malevolent actors such as hackers and criminals, and suggested it could prove more damaging than the Horizon scandal, in which postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted due to faulty IT evidence.
Davis said: “As early as 2022, the information assurance team responsible for ensuring the security of the system raised concerns that it was being developed on unsecured workstations, by contractors in Romania who did not have security clearance. When it ran a red-team operation to see how secure it was, they broke into the system easily.
They would have been able to install malware, and they were not even detected by the people running the system.”
He added: “What will happen when this system comes into effect is that the entire population’s entire data will be open to malevolent actors-foreign nations, ransomware criminals, malevolent hackers and even their own personal or political enemies. As a result, this will be worse than the Horizon scandal.”
The government has rejected this analysis, maintaining that the system will provide a straightforward, one-stop shop for accessing government services. During the same debate, Iqbal Mohamed MP said the country had been “crying out for joined-up government for decades,” but cautioned: “My constituents and millions across this country are opposed to the scheme because they see the breach of their civil liberties but do not see the benefits of the scheme.”
In response, a government spokesperson said at the time: “One Login follows the highest security standards used across government and the private sector and is fully compliant with UK data protection and privacy laws. The system undergoes regular security reviews and testing, including by independent third-parties, to ensure security remains strong and up to date.”
Jonathon Ellison, NCSC Director for National Resilience, said in September: “The introduction of passkeys for GOV.UK One Login will give users a faster, simpler and more secure way to sign in to many public-facing government services while leaving password headaches behind. Cyber criminals often look for the easiest route to access important accounts, which means login details remain a common target.
But passkeys offer a highly phishing-resistant alternative to passwords, frustrating attackers and saving the public time.
“We strongly encourage users to set up a passkey for GOV.UK One Login and to do so wherever passkeys are available across digital services,” Ellison said.
For further information about One Login, visit the government’s official website.
