Tariq Malik, former chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), has been included among the world’s top 25 identity leaders by Okta, an American cloud-based Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform.
“The honorees are being recognised for their tireless efforts in software creation, standards evolution, and strategic implementation to keep digital transactions safe and seamless,” said Okta.
“Their work tackles some of the most pressing challenges in the digital age, such as authenticating agentic AI entities capable of complex tasks without human oversight and defending against realistic AI-generated forgeries that threaten biometric security,” it added.
As per Okta’s report titled 2026 The Identity 25, Tariq Malik has spent 25 years advising governments and multilateral institutions building digital ID and civil registration systems that drive social protection and economic growth.
“Expectations are often high, and institutions are often under strain, but the promise is always the same,” he says: “Efficiency, inclusion, and better service delivery.”
During his work at NADRA, Tariq spearheaded one of the world’s largest biometric registration efforts.
As per the report, NADRA enrolled over 145 million of its fellow citizens, then used digital ID to create social programs to empower women, protect internally displaced persons, combat corruption, and reduce poverty.
“Passkeys in particular are eliminating passwords at scale,” he says, “while standards- based verifiable credentials enable selective disclosure of cryptographic claims rather than wholesale data sharing.”
Back in 2023, Tariq stepped down from his post as NADRA chairman. This was Tariq’s second stint as NADRA chairman, with the first having ended in 2013.
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