Identity verification services Identity verification services are third-party solutions which can be used to ensure that a person provides information which is associated with the identity of a real person. Such services may verify the authenticity of
identity documents such as
drivers licenses or
passports, called documentary verification, or may verify identity information against authoritative sources such as
credit bureaus or government data, called nondocumentary verification.
Identity documents verification The uploading of scanned or photographed
identity documents is a practice in use, for example, at
Facebook. According to
Facebook, there are two reasons that a person would be asked to send a scan of or photograph of an
ID to
Facebook: to show account ownership and to confirm their name. a startup that was advancing technologies to verify the authenticity of
identification documentation.
Biometric verification Behavioral verification Behavioral verification is the computer-aided and automated detection and analysis of behaviors and patterns of behavior to verify accounts. Behaviors to detect include those of
sockpuppets,
bots,
cyborgs,
trolls,
spammers,
vandals, and sources and spreaders of
fake news,
disinformation and
election interference. Behavioral verification processes can flag accounts as suspicious, exclude accounts from suspicion, or offer
corroborating evidence for processes of account verification.
Bank account verification Identity verification is required to establish bank accounts and other financial accounts in many jurisdictions. Verifying identity in the financial sector is often required by regulation such as
Know Your Customer or
Customer Identification Program. Accordingly, bank accounts can be of use as
corroborating evidence when performing account verification. Bank account information can be provided when creating or verifying an account or when making a purchase.
Postal address verification Postal address information can be provided when creating or verifying an account or when making and subsequently shipping a purchase. A hyperlink or code can be sent to a user by mail, recipients entering it on a website verifying their postal address.
Telephone number verification A telephone number can be provided when creating or verifying an account or added to an account to obtain a set of features. During the process of verifying a telephone number, a confirmation code is sent to a phone number specified by a user, for example in an
SMS message sent to a mobile phone. As the user receives the code sent, they can enter it on the website to confirm their receipt.
Email verification An email account is often required to create an account. During this process, a confirmation hyperlink is sent in an
email message to an email address specified by a person. The email recipient is instructed in the email message to navigate to the provided confirmation hyperlink if and only if they are the person creating an account. The act of navigating to the hyperlink confirms receipt of the email by the person. The added value of an email account for purposes of account verification depends upon the process of account verification performed by the specific email service provider.
Multi-factor verification Multi-factor account verification is account verification which simultaneously utilizes a number of techniques.
Multi-party verification The processes of account verification utilized by multiple service providers can
corroborate one another.
OpenID Connect includes a user information protocol which can be used to link multiple accounts, corroborating user information. == Account verification and good standing ==