'A honeypot for hackers': Cybersecurity experts BLAST the UK government's plan to introduce digital ID cards - as they claim it could allow criminals to extort billions from British taxpayers

Cybersecurity experts have blasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to introduce mandatory digital ID cards for every UK citizen. 

Stored on a government app, the so-called 'Brit-Card' will include your name, date of birth, and a photo as well as information on your nationality and residency status.

According to the PM, the mandatory cards will verify a citizen's right to be employed and help crack down on illegal working in the UK.

Anyone looking to start a new job or rent a property would be required to supply their digital ID, which would then be checked against a central database of people allowed to work in the UK.

But cybersecurity experts have blasted the system, claiming it could allow hackers to extort billions from British taxpayers.  

Chris Linnell, head of global data privacy at Bridewell, said identity data would 'collectively create a tempting target' for cyber criminals. 

'Every organisation faces the very real risk of being subject to a cyber-attack, and government departments are no exception,' he told the Daily Mail. 

'Given the nature of the data that would be held within a centralised database, the infrastructure will undoubtedly be a target for hackers.'

Mr Linnell continued: 'The digital ID will include a name, date of birth, nationality or residency status, and a photo – so if compromised, this information could be used for impersonation or fraud.

'It could also enable more sophisticated and tailored phishing attempts targeting individuals whose personal data has been exposed.' 

Having everybody's statistics under a single, computerised umbrella will make Britain vulnerable to a 'hacker attack of unparalleled proportions', said tech expert and columnist Andrew Orlowski.

'It will be feasible for an enemy – whether a foreign state, such as Russia or China, or an organised crime group – to hold the entire country to ransom,' he said. 

'Imagine a situation in which all state benefits – including pensions – were frozen, passports were rendered unusable and many crucial business functions were shut down.

'With all these services incapable of being restored until Downing Street met all the hackers' demands, the UK could literally be held hostage for billions of pounds.'

Jake Moore, security advisor at software firm ESET, said hackers 'will be drawn to this database like moths to a flame'. 

'A breach at this level could affect millions of people so it is absolutely vital strong encryption is used and [government] staff are trained,' he told the Daily Mail. 

Moore added: 'Furthermore, we will possibly see a rise in phishing attempts where scammers might create fake websites or even apps to trick the public into entering their ID credentials.' 

Niteen Crawford-Prajapati, chief technology officer at Verifymy, agreed a breach of the database could 'enable widespread identity theft and fraud'. 

'National identity systems create centralised, high-value targets for cyber criminals and nation-state actors,' he told the Daily Mail.

'This makes them vulnerable to large-scale data breaches that could expose millions of citizens' personal information simultaneously.' 

Meanwhile, Silkie Carlo, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, called the system 'intrusive' and a 'honeypot for hackers'.

'It has the hallmarks of the nightmare database state envisaged with Blair's failed ID card system, only in mobile, digital form,' she said.

Andy Phippen, author and professor of digital rights and online safety at Bournemouth University, said he is 'not a fan' of the proposal.

'Large government IT systems have a bad reputation for poor implementation and in some cases not being implemented at all,' he told the Daily Mail.

Professor Steve Schneider, computer scientist at the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, said cyber security is 'an essential concern' when the system is being developed. 

'It would need to be a consideration from the outset,' he told the Daily Mail. 'Any system has to protect personal information such as name, DOB, photo... loss of such data to criminals can lead to identity theft and fraud.

'But many systems already manage such data – for example the Passport Office, DVLA – and as a society we accept and manage the risks around this.' 

More than 500,000 people have already signed a petition against plans for new digital ID cards, which called it a 'step towards mass surveillance and digital control'. 

In an open letter, Big Brother Watch has urged the government to scrap their plans, calling it potentially 'uniquely harmful to privacy, equality and civil liberties'.

It would have 'serious consequences for our fundamental rights and freedoms' and would 'shift the balance of power towards the state with dangerous implications for our security'. 

The letter said: 'It would require the population to surrender vast amounts of personal data to be amassed into population-wide databases which could be amalgamated, searched, and analysed to monitor, track, and profile individuals.'

Rebecca Vincent, interim director of Big Brother Watch, called the idea that digital ID will provide a 'magic-bullet solution' for unauthorized immigration 'ludicrous'. 

'It will not stop small boat crossings, and it will not deter those intent on using non-legal means of entering the country from doing so,' she said. 

'But digital ID will create a huge burden for the largely law-abiding 60 million people who already live here and insert the state into many aspects of our everyday lives.

'The British people have a long and proud history of rejecting mandatory ID, and we should reject this one too. The stakes for our privacy rights have never been higher.' 

Currently, when people start a new job in the UK, they are asked to provide proof of identity in the form of a passport of driver's licence – but these are more easily forged than a digital ID, according to government. 

Under the plans, anyone starting a new job or looking to rent a home would be required to show the card on a smartphone app, which would then be checked against the central database of people entitled to live and work in the UK.

It is hoped this would reduce the attraction of working in the UK illegally, which could reduce the number of dangerous channel crossings from mainland Europe.

But critics have pointed out that it won't stop certain employers who operative 'off-the-books' from hiring illegal workers. 

'It would push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows, into even more precarious work and unsafe housing,' said Big Brother Watch's open letter. 

In the 2000s, former Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted to introduce a physical identity card, but the plan was eventually dropped by Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, after years of opposition that called it an infringement of civil liberties.

The UK has only previously had mandatory identity cards during World War Two. The last tranche were scrapped in 1952.