The Power of Digital Identity Assurance

Explore an article by Amy Crawford, Director of Government Services Strategy, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions as she explores the importance and value of identity assurance for the public sector.

Understanding identity is central to navigating the evolving cybersecurity landscape and ensuring citizens have a positive digital experience.

Delivering secure and frictionless service starts with understanding digital identity assurance at the core. In this article, we discuss the power – and importance – of identity assurance for the public sector.

Assurance is required because identities engage more often with online web portal sessions and less physically in person, creating added challenges and complexities. Traditional identity proofing and identity verification only verify that the entity that’s claiming to be “Amy” has Amy’s information. Identity verification methods can verify that, Amy – or rather this entity that claims to be Amy – has Amy’s information and can answer questions about Amy. But it does not prove that this entity is in fact Amy.

We need to go a step further into identity assurance. It goes back to the statement, “trust but verify.” Digital identity assurance exposes online risk—and by exposing risk—we can determine whether this entity or device can be trusted and is the purported individual.

1. Is this entity Amy, or is it just Amy’s device being used by somebody else?
2. Or has somebody compromised Amy’s device?
3. Also, does this device originate from a geolocation or physical address consistent with the last time Amy came to our web portal?

Risk aspects indicating account takeover threats or identity theft

At LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, we look for evidence of whether the device is trying to conceal its true source or location. Our solution evaluates whether that risk is consistent with an online entity using a stolen identity.

Threat actors and criminals are constantly looking for an easy path to commit crime, and it’s typically an easy vulnerability they can exploit. Online criminals with an individual’s personally identifiable information (PII) will use that to try to convince an agency or organization that they are, in fact, the individual. Any device masquerading as someone else will typically hide where it truly is coming from, and so fraudsters play tricks to conceal and cover up any details about their source.

Our solution provides insight into the digital history linked to devices, revealing both positive and negative risk. Your agency can then query the service to look for specific types of risk, such as velocities and anomalies mentioned earlier.

Identity verification may not be enough. What happens if agencies depend only on one simple identity verification check? Unfortunately, threat actors also know this, and have access to breached data that goes back many years. These threat actors use automated scripts and BOTs to enter PII on millions of webforms on open web portals, improving the accuracy of Personal Identifiable Information (PII), essentially cleansing the data.

Agencies that have identity verification alone in their workflow solely prove whether that entity claiming to be an individual has their accurate information. There is a blind trust that assumes just because this entity has the person’s information, this information must be that person. This blind trust is getting exploited at an increasing rate and is a leading source of agency online and call center fraud.

LexisNexis® Risk Solutions helps agencies deploy multi-dimensional intelligence and risk frameworks proactively, so you can counter threats without impacting speed and the constituent experience. This intelligence can free up resources, drive transparency, strengthen trust, and enable better outcomes.

Identity Made Simple. The LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Advantage 

We collaborate with agencies to help them achieve their missions with ease. From empowering transformation, to delivering secure services to help drive efficiency, transparency, and oversight across channels and agencies. LexisNexis® Risk Solutions accomplishes this by understanding identity with precision. The core of what we do is data science, intelligence, analytics, and technology. Our 10,000+ data sources, platform strength, and proprietary linking with 99.999% precision, work together to drive results. LexisNexis® Risk Solutions can help your agency deploy multi-dimensional intelligence and risk frameworks proactively, so you can counter threats without impacting speed and the constituent experience. This intelligence can free up resources, drive transparency, strengthen trust, and enable better outcomes.

Download the article to read more.