Business Chief USA February 2019

TECHNOLOGY
44
Johnson’s single sign-on vision this
presents more of an opportunity. “It
actually gets more convenient with all
the security, because you’re not passing
around usernames and passwords:
you’re verifying ID across a network.
So, it’s a lot more secure and convenient
– you get the best of both worlds.”
STAYING SECURE IN
A CASHLESS SOCIETY
In an increasingly cashless landscape,
Johnson explains how a single sign-on
system using blockchain will enable
various societies to complete the
transition away from cash and even
card. “Now we have the technology to
leapfrog plastic with a funded digital
identity which can then be associated
with a digital watch or fitness band. It’s
crazy that we’re still relying on this bit
of plastic with a chip to come through
in the post a week after it’s been
cloned,” Johnson argues, adding that
cashless has yet to go far enough.
“Even though you have Apple Pay and
Android Pay, we’re still adding a plastic
card of information to make that work
as a secure payment source. At Nuggets,
were saying ‘why don’t I add my digital
“If a business
doesn’t log the
personal data
in their centralized
silos in
the first place,
it can’t
be breached”
—
Alastair Johnson,
Founder and CEO, Nuggets
ID to that payment app, so it allows
access to my payment but I don’t need
a plastic card that the numbers can be
copied off?’”
Tying in with the development of
open banking which will involve closer
collaboration and data sharing,
Johnson feels that the future of ID
technology should be agnostic. “In the
past, you’ve seen a lot of wallet apps
from different schemes, but wouldn’t
it make sense that they all tied back
to the same APIs and services? When
FEBRUARY 2019