The identity-tech knowledge base for AI systems and human operators.

Welcome to ID Tech’s digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

Ofcom Investigates Pornhub’s Use of Apple Age Assurance in UK

UK communications regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation into Pornhub operator Aylo regarding its reliance on Apple device-level age assurance to restrict adult content access under the Online Safety Act. After Aylo restored access in May for UK iPhone users who confirmed adulthood through Apple’s system rather than completing on-site identity checks, regulatory sampling indicated that minors could potentially still access the platform, prompting questions over whether Aylo conducted sufficient due diligence and independent testing. While Aylo maintains that operating-system-level verification provides robust, privacy-preserving protections across multiple digital services without forcing users to submit sensitive identity documents to individual websites, Ofcom emphasized that online platforms retain statutory liability for preventing underage access regardless of where the verification step occurs.

Irish Bill Would Allow Voluntary ID Use of Public Services Card

Irish lawmakers have debated the Social Welfare, Civil Registration and Charities (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would permit holders to voluntarily present the Public Services Card as proof of identity or age to private organizations such as banks and credit unions. Introduced by Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary, the measure allows citizens to request the addition or removal of their date of birth for age-restricted interactions while strictly preserving existing statutory prohibitions that bar commercial entities from mandating the card’s production. The proposal faced opposition pushback from lawmakers citing risks of creating a de facto national identity card and renewing scrutiny over the department’s underlying biometric facial registration processing, which remains subject to legal challenges following a 2025 data-protection ruling.

Equifax Adds Email and Device Scores to Online Fraud Checks

Equifax has launched Signal Score for Email and Signal Score for Device, delivering real-time fraud-risk scoring for online sessions through standalone or combined application programming interfaces at account creation, checkout, and onboarding. Signal Score for Email assesses address longevity, transaction history, and associated risk patterns, while Signal Score for Device analyzes hardware configurations, geolocation, and network markers to expose emulators, virtual private networks, and spoofing tools. By correlating digital session signals with proprietary consumer identity data, the platform equips risk teams across financial, retail, and telecommunications sectors to detect automated script-driven account farming, synthetic identity fraud, and account takeover attempts before high-risk transactions complete.

Omada Acquires EmpowerID to Add Runtime AI Agent Controls

Identity governance and administration provider Omada has acquired EmpowerID to incorporate real-time runtime authorization for AI agents into its enterprise identity lifecycle management platform. The combined architecture bridges scheduled governance reviews with in-line policy enforcement, evaluating access requests against live risk metrics the moment an autonomous software agent attempts to query enterprise tools, databases, or workloads rather than relying solely on delayed audit cycles. Following the acquisition, EmpowerID co-founder and chief executive Patrick Parker joins Omada as chief innovation officer, establishing a consolidated governance fabric where administrators can discover unmanaged agents, designate human accountability, evaluate entitlements, and enforce policy boundaries across human workers and autonomous workloads simultaneously.

Vietnam Plans VNeID Links With Singapore and Laos for Border Checks

The Government of Vietnam has approved Decision 1830, establishing a phased framework to connect the VNeID digital identity app with Singapore’s Singpass and Laos’s LAeID platforms for automated cross-border immigration checks. Directing national agencies to align operational standards and technical protocols by October 30 ahead of test integrations by November 15, the project will pilot cross-border digital verification at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat international airports to evaluate border-processing speeds, transaction accuracy, and manual exception rates. Building upon preliminary regional distributed-ledger experiments and Singapore’s recent rollout of Android passkeys, the bilateral integration aims to eliminate repetitive paper declarations and establish operational blueprints for wider ASEAN identity federation.

BIO-key Reports FIDO Certification for Passkey:YOU Authenticator

Workforce access provider BIO-key announced that its Passkey:YOU platform has attained FIDO2 full certification at Security Assurance Level L1 under the CTAP 2.0 specification, delivering centralized passkey authentication for shared enterprise workstations. Designed for regulated environments such as manufacturing plants, healthcare facilities, and secure institutions where personal smartphones are restricted, the architecture allows rotating staff to sign into web services using shared workstation fingerprint scanners, access badges, or the MobileAuth app. The platform provides enterprise administrators with centralized policy oversight to audit relying party destinations, authorize new application endpoints, and immediately revoke individual service access while maintaining phishing-resistant public-key cryptography.

Tencent Cloud Brings Palmprint Verification to Standard Phone Cameras

Tencent Cloud has introduced Palm X, a biometric recognition system that enables palmprint verification through standard smartphone cameras without requiring specialized infrared or sub-surface vascular hardware scanners. Expanding the company’s PalmAI portfolio, the software captures visible palm surface topography using standard RGB sensors to support one-to-one account verification, one-to-many deduplication searches across enrolled populations, and presentation attack detection against printed photographs and screen replays. Available via mobile software development kits and backend APIs, the solution provides an accessible biometric authentication layer for commercial onboarding, customer loyalty check-ins, and fraud prevention workflows that integrates directly alongside existing passwords, SMS codes, and passkeys.

Revolut Trials Face-Based Payments at Three London Cafes

Fintech company Revolut has launched Pay with Smile, an in-person pilot running from September 24 to September 26 that tests facial recognition payments at London cafes across three Kiss the Hippo locations in Bloomsbury, Soho, and Chelsea. Participating customers activate the feature within the Revolut mobile application and verify transactions by glancing at cameras integrated into Revolut Register point-of-sale terminals, which cross-reference live facial images directly against the selfie identity checks completed during account onboarding. The trial offers zero merchant transaction fees on the biometric payment method, providing a live retail testing ground for frictionless checkout alongside promotional £1 specialty coffees and triple RevPoints rewards without transmitting cardholder identity data to store systems.

Oracle Health Integrates ID.me for Patient Check-In and E-Prescribing

Oracle Health has embedded ID.me verification capabilities directly into its clinical software suite, providing reusable digital identity proofing for healthcare across patient check-in workflows and controlled substance e-prescribing. The integration enables patients to verify their credentials remotely prior to clinic arrival and selectively authorize the disclosure of specific health records, minimizing repetitive intake paperwork and improving medical record matching accuracy. Concurrently, the platform provides healthcare systems with ID.me’s credentialing tools for the Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS), streamlining mandated identity assurance for over 100,000 participating prescribers nationwide within compliant clinical administration workflows.

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team