Facial, Fingerprint Recognition to Be Part of MyGov

A fingerprint is scanned at Argus Solutions in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 11, 2005. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

The Australian government will roll out additional biometric security measures for key online government services in 2024 to curb a surge of online scam activities.

It comes after the federal government revealed it had to deal with thousands of scam attempts at myGov accounts each month.

myGov is an online application (app) that allows Australian users to access a wide range of government services, including seeing their tax records, Medicare, and social welfare.

Australia has recently become a hotspot for cyberattacks and scamming activities with reports of hackers selling stolen myGov login details on the dark net.

In an interview with ABC Radio, Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the government had proposed introducing “passkeys” to the myGov app in the first six months of 2024.

With “passkeys” enabled, users can then log in to their myGov accounts using face or fingerprint recognition instead of usernames and passwords.

The minister said the new measure would offer greater protection for myGov users.

“If you have a smartphone, you can use a thumbprint, or you can use facial ID, and that unlocks your phone and gets you going,” he said.

“That’s a good system of security because that can’t be phished.”

To address concerns about biometric security, Mr. Shorten assured the public that the government did not collect that data.

“When I say biometric—that facial feature of your thumbprint—the government doesn’t get it,” he said.

“We don’t want it, and we don’t get it. What it does is … we’re using the technology of people’s phones to increase the protection of their government data.”

While the minister said Australians can access essential government services without using the online app, he noted that its security was much higher than what private institutions offered.

He hoped Australians could trust the system.

“I do stress there‘ll be people perhaps of a particular generation or circumstance who will say, ’I don’t want to go online, I just want to go down to my local Services Australia office, or I want to ring up,'” Mr. Shorten said.

“That’s fine, you still can, but the reality is that the digital world does work, and myGov has pretty good levels of authentication, much better than we’re seeing in a lot of private companies which seem to get hacked quite often.”

Surge in Scam Activities Targeting myGov

According to Mr. Shorten, between January and October, his department intercepted around 6,000 instances where individuals tried to get access to the myGov accounts of other people.

The minister said those accounts were not hacked but rather subject to some forms of phishing where criminals sent official-looking myGov emails asking users to put forward their financial details.

A Medicare and Centrelink office sign is seen at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Australia, on March 21, 2016. Matt King/Getty Images

While the criminals eventually failed to access the myGov accounts due to multifactor identification, Mr. Shorten said it was still a serious attempt to impersonate someone.

At the same time, he warned criminals were selling tools that enabled bad actors to steal myGov data from users.

“Criminals, malicious actors are making it easy for other criminals to generate and recreate myGov phishing sites,” Mr. Shorten said.

“They’re selling the technology of how to try and impersonate a person on myGov.”

In the face of such a situation, the minister urged Australians to remain cautious and not to click on links in impersonate emails.

Concerns About Biometric Security

While the government is pushing for more biometric security measures to protect Australians’ privacy, there have been growing concerns among the public about the increasing use of surveillance by government and private institutes.

Recently, shoppers have taken to social media to voice their objections to several major supermarket chains’ plans to step up camera surveillance at self-checkout stations, and other similar measures to tackle a rise in shoplifting.

Some believed that the companies overstepped their boundaries and invaded customers’ privacy.

In July, privacy experts questioned the transparency of a number of major Australian concert venues when they implemented facial recognition technology while not explicitly informing consumers.

While some venues stated that they did not collect or monetise facial recognition data, experts pointed out that most venues did not explicitly ask patrons for consent to collect their data nor inform them about the use of facial surveillance at the point of sale on ticketing websites.