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Optus has extended its strategic partnership with Mastercard, focusing on the telco’s identity-checking service, ID.
First starting in November 2020, the initial partnership saw the two companies come together to create a reusable identity in the telco’s My Optus app, as opposed to requiring physical documents.
According to Richard Wormald, division president for Australasia at Mastercard, the extension will see the payment processing giant bolster the service.
“The extension of the strategic partnership will enable Mastercard to support Optus customers and reinforce the capabilities of its digital identity service to businesses and consumers both in Australia and globally,” he said.
The service uses security technology to check the validity of documents such as a passport or driver’s licence, comparing it to the customer’s face to assess whether they are “genuine”, before checking them against government data sources.
While the service encrypts the digital ID on the customer’s device and protects it via biometric authentication while not storing copies of the documentation or images, an Optus spokesperson said to ARN that the telco is “required to keep certain customer information under various legislation or regulatory requirements”.
The expansion of the ID-focused partnership between the two companies comes months, after Optus’ September data breach, which saw 9.8 million customers affected, as well as information such as licence and passport numbers stolen.
Months later in October, Deloitte was brought in to review Optus' security systems, controls and processes. Then, in November, the telco committed $140 million towards its cyber recovery.
While ID was launched years before the breach, Optus added it is an “integral part” of its actions moving forward to protect its customers.
