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Digital identity is integral to daily life, enabling secure access to essential services such as banking, voting, and online authentication. As digital interactions become second nature, the need for seamless and secure identity verification has never been more critical.
However, as Kalev Pihl, CEO of SK ID Solutions, points out, one of the biggest misconceptions about digital identity is its perceived simplicity. “Identifying an individual among 8 billion people is exactly as challenging as one might expect,” he explains, emphasizing the complexity behind ensuring trust and security in a digital world.
The challenge isn’t just scale; it’s fragmentation. Today’s digital identity landscape is riddled with inefficiencies and security gaps, making interoperability a growing concern. But SK ID Solutions, the company behind Smart-ID and Mobile-ID, is stepping up once again. With Authentigate, they are redefining authentication by prioritising trust, seamless cross-border verification, and user-centric control.
Fixing the fragmentation
For decades, identity verification has been siloed, with countries, industries, and organisations relying on disparate systems. This fragmentation has created a complex web of inefficiencies. Businesses juggle multiple authentication providers, users face repeated friction when proving their identities, and regulators struggle to enforce compliance across inconsistent frameworks. The result? A digital identity crisis marked by security gaps, operational burdens, and eroding trust.
Kalev explains that Authentigate tackles this challenge head-on by offering a unified authentication gateway consolidating various verification services into one interoperable solution. “Businesses don’t want to buy authentication with Mobile ID, Smart ID, or ID card separately. They want to authenticate their customers. We aimed to build a single gateway that simplifies integration while ensuring high-assurance authentication.”
This capability is more than convenient in highly regulated industries like finance, telecommunications, and e-government services. It’s essential for mitigating fraud, reducing compliance costs, and fostering digital trust at scale.
Privacy-first authentication is the new standard
The balance between security and privacy has long been a challenge in digital identity. Traditional verification models often demand excessive personal data, leaving users vulnerable to data breaches, identity theft, and regulatory scrutiny. But in this time of heightened privacy concerns and stricter regulations, data minimisation is no longer a best practice and is obligatory. “One of the key matters across Europe right now is the need for authentication solutions where the data shared is strictly limited to the business case or use case at hand. Authentigate is that solution,” says Kalev.
Authentigate embraces a privacy-first approach, allowing enterprises to request only the attributes essential for verification, such as confirming age, nationality, or gender, without exposing unnecessary personal details. This model aligns seamlessly with stringent regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mandates strict controls over personal data collection. According to Pihl, SK ID Solutions’ Authentigate’s zero-knowledge architecture also reflects a broader shift toward user-empowered identity models, where individuals have and maintain greater control over how, when, and why their information is shared.
Cross-border identity verification made easy
As businesses expand globally, the limitations of localised authentication systems become increasingly apparent. Companies operating across multiple markets face significant difficulties verifying users efficiently while complying with diverse regional regulations. The European Union’s push toward a Pan-European Digital Identity (eIDAS 2.0) further highlights this challenge, as governments and organisations recognise the urgent need for a standardised, interoperable identity framework.
SK ID Solutions’ Authentigate is designed to bridge this gap. By enabling seamless identity authentication across different legal and technological landscapes, it allows businesses to meet local compliance requirements without compromising efficiency. This capability is especially valuable in global finance, digital banking, and multinational e-commerce sectors, where traditional identity verification methods often lead to unnecessary complexity, delays, and security risks.
Navigating the global digital identity scene
The rollout of Authentigate represents a significant milestone in SK ID Solutions’ global strategy. However, with such an ambitious vision, challenges are inevitable. Digital identity is inherently complex, and scaling authentication solutions internationally presents unique hurdles, including navigating local regulations and protectionist policies.
“We try to enforce the idea of a single European market,” says Kalev, “But it’s not always easy, as country-specific regulations create barriers. Still, electronic identity and digital signing are governed by a common regulation across most of Europe, allowing 98% of our services to be compliant. But once you move beyond the EU, things get much more complicated. For example, countries like Canada, Japan, and Nigeria present very different landscapes. Even regions like Iceland, though part of the European Economic Area, are a bit different too since they aren’t part of the European Union,” he shares candidly.
The existing infrastructure adds another layer of complexity. Estonia and the Baltic States are pioneers in digital identity, building robust, trust-based systems grounded in physical verification. For instance, Smart-ID has just been adopted as an official identification method for Estonia’s e-voting system since the 2025 local elections. “But the further you go from home, the harder it gets,” Kalev points out. “Digital identity still relies on physical verification first, and only then can technology step in,” he adds.
Despite these challenges, Smart-ID’s success, which has expanded beyond the Baltics into countries like Belgium and Iceland, proves that SK ID Solutions has the expertise to steer these obstacles and continue to grow.
