An extra step for driver’s licence verifications following recent data breaches
New changes are now in place for driver’s licence verifications to protect consumer identities in the wake of a number of high-profile data breaches recently.
Consumers in every state of Australia will now need to provide the unique driver licence card number found on their driver’s licence as an additional step in the Document Verification Service (DVS) process.
The extra layer of protection comes after approximately 9.8 million Australians’ personal details were compromised in September 2022. This breach exposed 3.6 million driver’s licence numbers putting people’s identities at risk.
In this article, we’ll explain what you need to know about the new changes to driver’s licence verifications and the update to greenID.
What has changed for driver’s licence verifications?
The mandatory change means that consumers will need to provide their unique driver’s licence card number along with their driver’s licence number in the Document Verification Service (DVS) driver’s licence verifications.
Previously customers would be asked to provide only their driver’s licence number for the identity verification. However, in the data breach, driver’s licence numbers were compromised for millions of customers, meaning the licence number alone is not enough to protect the consumer from identity fraud.
greenID has been updated and the driver’s licence card number is now a mandatory field for driver’s licence checks in all Australian states.
What makes the driver’s licence card number more secure?
The driver’s licence card number is a unique card number on the licence, like the CVV number on a credit or debit card.
Unlike a driver licence number, the card number changes each time a licence is renewed or replaced, making it an even more secure identity document.
Because the card number is a unique identifier, organisations can be confident the driver’s licence being presented is the most recently issued document.
The majority of customers impacted by the data breach only had their licence number compromised, not the card number. Therefore, using both the card number and driver’s licence number for verification means the compromised licence number cannot be used for fraudulent activity on its own. This reduces the risk of unauthorised access to the consumer’s identity.
Unfortunately, those customers who had both their card number and licence number compromised have been advised to apply for a new licence.
If you have any questions or require more information about the changes to greenID, check out our FAQs or contact customer.support@gbgplc.com.