Home Contracting and the Need for My Number Card Due to Rise in SIM Swap Fraud in Mobile Phone Contracts

Can a Driver’s License with an Embedded IC Chip Work?

To prevent such SIM swap fraud, the government’s measure is to consolidate identity verification for mobile phone contracts into the My Number Card as a general rule and mandate ‘reading of embedded IC chip information.’ Mobile phone contracts can be processed online, but non-face-to-face identity verification will only be possible with the ‘My Number Card.’ For in-store face-to-face verification, ‘We are planning to mandate reading of IC chips for both driver’s licenses and My Number Cards’ (according to a Digital Agency spokesperson), allowing for driver’s licenses with embedded IC chips as well.

Regarding the new identity verification method, Noboru Ueno, representative of Trycoder (Chuo-ku, Tokyo), which provides cybersecurity solutions, says, ‘It is a much safer system compared to traditional health insurance cards.’ He adds, ‘Forging the IC chip itself is very difficult because it contains a system for electronic certificates of public personal authentication.’

Public personal authentication services are a means of identity verification used in online applications and administrative procedures to prevent impersonation and data tampering. Data known as ‘electronic certificates’ is recorded on IC chips in My Number Cards and other similar cards for use. The public key cryptography method adopted by public personal authentication services involves a ‘private key’ and a ‘public key’ in a pair, where something encrypted with one key can only be decrypted with the other key.

Although Information Is Not Stored on the Card Itself.

Regarding the security of the My Number Card, Ueno says, ‘The only data other than what is printed on the card itself is the electronic certificate, so information is not stored on the card itself.’ Even if someone steals another person’s My Number Card, a password is required, making it ‘not easy to misuse.’

Even though the My Number Card, including the embedded IC chip, is difficult to forge, if personal information is centralized on the My Number Card and used for purposes such as health insurance cards and driver’s licenses, it will become necessary to carry it. Is there no concern about accidentally dropping the My Number Card and it being picked up and misused by someone with malicious intent?

In this regard, the key factor is the password. If someone with malicious intent picks up the My Number Card and cracks the password, personal information could be exposed.

“The password system is designed to lock after a certain number of incorrect attempts, making it difficult to crack someone else’s password. If you lose your My Number Card, you can temporarily disable its functionality by calling the call center” (according to a Digital Agency spokesperson).