Date Published: March 18, 2026
Comments Due:
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Author(s)
Yee-Yin Choong (NIST), William Fisher (NIST), Ryan Galluzzo (NIST), Jason Ajmo (MITRE), Christopher Brown (MITRE), Sudhi Umarji (MITRE), Ellen Nadeau (Coralline), Heather Flanagan (Spherical Cow Consulting)
Announcement
Today, the NCCoE published technical resources to help financial institutions use mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) for customer identification. NIST Special Publication 1800-42 ipd provides an updated reference architecture, implementation details, and key findings from the project.
Compared to physical driver’s licenses, mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) are easier to use for digital transactions and offer improved protections against fraud, identity theft, and unauthorized access. The NCCoE’s technology demonstration is tackling the security, privacy, and interoperability issues with mDLs.
This publication reflects insights from industry collaborators and lessons learned by developing a functional online demonstration using mDLs for customer identification. The publication provides a practical roadmap to enable adoption and implementation of mDLs for online financial management.
Feedback
You can improve this guide by contributing feedback. As an initial public draft, this document intends to gain critical feedback from stakeholders across government and industry on the implementation of mDL to support Customer Identification Programs and high assurance use cases more broadly. Comments are welcome on all aspects of this document and specifically encouraged on the following areas:
- Implementation and Adoption Challenges. This document highlights challenges to the adoption of mDL technology learned through engagement with collaborators and stakeholders spanning technology providers, financial institutions, standards bodies and government agencies. However, additional insights on barriers to adoption can help focus the project and future phases of work and NIST’s engagement with standards development organizations.
- Regulatory and Compliance Alignment. This document offers insights into the ways in which mDL online presentation aligns with existing regulatory structures. Additional insights on other regulatory mappings, views on the degree to which alignment is achieved, and suggested clarifications are encouraged.
- Technology Transfer and Resources. This document as well as supporting resources are intended to aid in implementation of the technology in real world environments. The project team is highly interested in additional resources and tools which may further aid in both technical implementation and broader adoption of the technology.
- Threats and Threat Model. The threat model proposed here is intended to act as a starting point for members of the ecosystem to identify and prepare for how attacks may shift in an mDL environment. Input on approach, specific threats, and mitigations will be highly valuable in maturing this view and providing greater visibility into future risks.
Mobile Driver’s Licenses, and Verifiable Digital Credentials more broadly, represent an emerging technology with the capability to enhance the methods we use to prove identity both in-person and online. Many sectors stand to benefit from this emerging technology, including financial institutions seeking to enhance the security, privacy, usability, and reliability of online identity services. This practice guide captures insights generated through engagement with a robust cohort of industry collaborators and the lessons learned by developing a functional online mDL demonstration to provide a practical roadmap to enable adoption and implementation of mDLs for online financial account management.
Mobile Driver’s Licenses, and Verifiable Digital Credentials more broadly, represent an emerging technology with the capability to enhance the methods we use to prove identity both in-person and online. Many sectors stand to benefit from this emerging technology, including financial institutions...
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Mobile Driver’s Licenses, and Verifiable Digital Credentials more broadly, represent an emerging technology with the capability to enhance the methods we use to prove identity both in-person and online. Many sectors stand to benefit from this emerging technology, including financial institutions seeking to enhance the security, privacy, usability, and reliability of online identity services. This practice guide captures insights generated through engagement with a robust cohort of industry collaborators and the lessons learned by developing a functional online mDL demonstration to provide a practical roadmap to enable adoption and implementation of mDLs for online financial account management.
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Keywords
authentication; credentials; identity; mobile driver’s license (mDL); verifiable digital credentials
Control Families
Access Control; Audit and Accountability; Assessment, Authorization and Monitoring; Identification and Authentication
