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Keys Not Included: recovering the signing keys for US driver's license barcodes

289 points · 152 comments · Ryan5453

bob1029 · 1789635739 · focus · HN ↗
I think mDL is going to be a pretty big deal in some industries (e.g. banking). Apple announced an ecosystem around this at WWDC25. Very soon we are going to be in a world where you walk into a bank to open/maintain an account and the following occurs:
1. The bank emails/SMSes the customer a link
2. The customer takes out their iPhone, opens whatever email/messaging software & taps the link
3. The link takes the customer to a specially crafted page owned by the bank that triggers a native OS process for opening Apple Wallet and gathering requested ID details with consent.
<a href="https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/232" rel="nofollow">https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/232 <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/digital-credentials" rel="nofollow">https://www.w3.org/TR/digital-credentials
This is potentially a superior arrangement because it could eventually establish a strong cryptographic chain of trust all the way to the issuer (e.g. the State of Alabama). Right now there are some gaps in that chain but I see no reason they couldn't be closed over time.
1. bux93 · 1789636999 · focus · HN ↗
  Walk into bank? The last time I opened a bank account (2023), I tapped my driver's license to my phone, it got my details+photo via NFC, I took a "liveness check" video and was onboarded. This has been the workflow for many years now for consumer account openings, or installing a banking app on a new phone. I think bunq did it first around 2017. As soon as (EUDI) wallets are more standardized, both neobanks and high streets banks will adopt that too.

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