DTLab’s Digital Credential Training Program is now available to the public! Whether your organization is embarking on a digital credential journey, or you’re new to a digital credential or digital trust team and need to accelerate your learning curve, we have you covered.

With cyber threats soaring and financial losses from fraud in Canada more than tripling from $165 million in 2020 to $569 million in 2023, Canadian businesses, nonprofits, governments, and other organizations must urgently bolster their security measures. This program provides participants with the necessary knowledge to better protect themselves and their organizations against data breaches using digital credentials. In doing so, it contributes to the ongoing fight against cybercrime and fraud. 

Is your organization taking its first steps into digital credentials or have you recently joined a digital credentials team and need to get up to speed? This program is for you! 

DTLab has two courses

• Digital Credentials 101: Fundamentals 
• Digital Credentials 102: Introduction to Implementation 

Contact us to book your team training. Register today to secure your spot in our exclusive program!

These courses are designed to cater to varying levels of expertise and interest in digital credentials. They can be pursued individually or combined for a comprehensive learning experience, providing foundational knowledge and implementation insights into the digital credentials domain.

As a lead up to this public call for registration, DTLab has already started delivering this training. The Canada Revenue Agency, the Government of Northwest Territories and 15 organizations from Gatineau have all participated in one or both courses.

“The DTLab’s Digital Credentials Training Program was expertly delivered and filled a knowledge gap in our organization with respect to digital credentials,” said Jason Doiron, Director of Governance, Planning and Security with the Government of Northwest Territories

“The courses provided the right balance between information download and practical applications allowing the participants to leave the training with not only a base understanding of digital credentials but how it could be immediately applied in the work our organization is embarking on.  I would recommend this training to any organization that is looking to level up its collective knowledge on digital credentials and to kickstart their journey towards the same.”

Training available for individuals and teams:

Team training available now for both courses, in both official languages. Individual training kicks off this fall.

• Digital Credentials 101 – Fundamentals  (EN) – October 3 and October 10, 2024. 11AM to 2PM EST
• Digital Credentials 102 – Introduction to Implementation (EN) – Weekly on Thursdays, October 17 to November 7, 2024. 11AM to 2PM EST
• Digital Credentials 101 – Fundamentals (FR) – November 5 and November 12, 2024. 11AM to 2PM EST
• Digital Credentials 102 – Introduction to Implementation (FR) – Weekly on Tuesdays from November 19 to December 10, 2024. 11AM to 2PM EST

Contact us to book your team training. Register today to secure your spot in our exclusive program!

Why should I care about digital credentials?

Digital identity and credentials are a secure means to foster trust and confidence in digital transactions. They do this by proving the identity of an organization, person or thing, and/or by proving information about an organization, person or thing.

Let’s look at why this is important:

1. We have a rise in identity fraud which is extremely costly both to the individual victims and the companies that need to manage the data breaches or resulting financial losses. 
2. We have a loss of privacy through oversharing of information with supporting documents, escalating privacy breaches and increased surveillance by social media companies and others looking to monetize your data.
3. There is poor ease of use remembering hundreds if not thousands of usernames and passwords (or more likely reusing usernames and passwords), which leads to security issues.
4. We don’t have a way to share or receive documents in a way that is secure, privacy protecting, and where we can validate their authenticity. Copies are easily manipulated and paper originals are easily forged.
5. There are productivity impacts with having to validate these countless documents or assume the risk if we choose not to verify
6. We have to manage expensive privacy and security process and infrastructure burdens.
7. and we have reputational risks when we get any of these things wrong! And as you can see from this list, there is a lot to go wrong.

Digital credentials play a pivotal role in addressing these problems. 

• A digital credential is a digital representation of information found in the digital credential’s physical counterpart – such as a government issued photo ID, a permit, proof that you are audit compliant, an employee badge, a financial statement, or a proof of business registration. 
• Digital credentials are cryptographically signed and verifiable. Cryptographically signed and verifiable means that when you verify a digital credential using verification technology, your verification technology can automatically tell whether any of the data contained in the credential has been tampered with and the technology confirms who the issuer is. So it eliminates the unverifiable document problem. You can trust the data provided because you know who issued it and that it hasn’t been forged or tampered with since it was issued. 
• Digital credentials are privacy protecting. Digital credentials can limit what information is shared. So rather than your organization asking to see the whole credential, the whole driver’s licence, the whole permit, the whole business registration, your organization only needs to ask for the information that you need and the person or organization sharing the credential keeps the rest of their information private.
• Digital credentials (aspire to be) compatible (also known as interoperable). This means that as adoption grows and the technology matures the goal is that we will be able to use any digital credentials with the same flexibility we use credit cards today.

Today more than ever, digital credentials are emerging as an essential strategic lever for navigating a digital world securely and successfully.

Contact us to book your team training

Examples of how digital credentials can be leveraged by different industries

• Professional services and technology: Improving data security, optimizing document management and regulatory compliance.
• Health and safety: Enhancing patient record confidentiality, effective management of sensitive data.
• Education: Digitization of student records, improvement of administrative and pedagogical processes.
• Manufacturing companies: Improved traceability, optimized inventory and supply chain management.
• Construction and utilities: Optimized project and technical document management, regulatory compliance.
• Retail, hospitality and tourism: Improved customer experience, efficient management of online reservations and transactions.
• Non-profit organizations: Transparent and secure donation management, optimized activity reporting.
  
• Public services: Digitization of citizen services, improved efficiency and access to public information.

For further information, please contact education@dtlab-labcn.org