Australians to gain greater control over compromised identity documents with new IDLock scheme

The service is being developed as a new way for Australians to access the protections of the Commonwealth’s Credential Protection Register, which was established in 2022 to prevent compromised identity documents from being used to fraudulently establish an individual’s identity.

The government said IDLock is intended to allow people to act before stolen or exposed credentials are used to cause harm.

“Australians deserve to have control over how their personal identity information, such as their driver’s licence or passport, is used to verify their identity online,” Rowland said in a statement.

“As data breaches, scams and cyber-enabled crime continue to evolve, Australia’s approach must evolve with them.

“With the launch of IDLock, our government is taking the next step towards a stronger, more robust identity verification framework that expands the focus from responding after identity credentials have been compromised, to enabling Australians to protect themselves before identity crime occurs.

“Whether their driver’s licence details have been exposed in a data breach or they are concerned about scams and identity theft, IDLock will give Australians an accessible and simple way to have greater visibility, control and confidence in how their identity documents are used.”

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The register has already blocked more than 830,000 fraudulent identity verification attempts since late 2022, averaging about 18,000 blocked attempts each month.

IDLock will initially be made available to a small group of users for early access and testing later this year, before a broader national rollout through myGov in 2027.