Types of Identity 

Identity is whatever makes an individual recognisable. It is the set of characteristics that distinguishes the individual from everyone else.

If you walked in to a room you would distinguish an individual by their height, their body shape, the colour of their hair, the shape of their face, the colour of their eyes, the sound of their voice, their personaility. These characteristics could be considered to comprise their physical identity. Human beings find this easy to do.

Computers are not very good at recognising indviduals from their physical characteristics. Computers attempt to recognise individuals using biometrics. Biometrics are measurable physical characteristics, fingerprints, iris scans, the shape of the face and the sound of voice. These characteristics could be considered to comprise their biometric identity.

During day to day life individuals carry out transactions with organisations such as banks, employers and other individuals. Whilst, carrying out these transactions they will use other characterisitcs to identify themselves, their name, their address, their date of birth, national identity numbers (national insurance numbers etc), their birth certificate, their passport, their driving licence. These characterisitics be considered to comprise their legal identity.

If an individual has problems with their health. A blood sample may be taken to determine their blood group, or a dna test may be undertaken to determine their genetic makeup.  These characterisitics be considered to comprise their biological identity.

If an individual undertakes electronic transactions, they may use, their username, their password, their email address, their digital signature to sign emails and documents, their smart card to with withdraw money at a bank ATM, a two factor authentication device, their phone number to send a SMS text. These characterisitics be considered to comprise their digital identity.

Using a combination of the characteristics above any individual on the planet can be uniquely identified and this is their identity.

In the case of identity theft an unscrupulous individual will attempt to acquire sufficient of the characterisitcs above to be able to impersonate another individual and assume their identity for a period of time.