Originally owned by Verid (and acquired by RSA in 2007) RSA Identity Verification is a "knowledge-based" identification service in which individuals confirm their identity by answering questions that are automatically generated by the platform. The questions themselves are derived from the examination of public records and "commercially available data sources" pertaining to the individual; as such, the individuals needn't pre-define questions for answering (and thus no prior relationship with the individual is required for verification). The vendor notes that the answers to the questions "... are not easily found through searching the Internet."

The vendor hosted service is accessed via a browser-based Web application, or can be integrated with the customer's systems via an XML or Web Service/SOAP-based interface.

Organizations can configure the platform for their use, with the vendor noting that over 300 configurable options are available, including the types of questions asked. The vendor notes that the platform does not generate questions related to the individual's finances, in an attempt to protect the individual's privacy.

A key feature of the platform is the Identity Event Module, which examines specific parameters of a verification attempt and the individual's identity in an attempt to gauge the risk involved with the identity; with the ability to then dynamically adjust the system's configuration to generate more difficult questions, if necessary, as a result of that risk. Metrics such as suspicious access to an individual's public records, the amount of activity associated with an individual across businesses, and the number of authentication requests from specific IP addresses are all taken into account by the Identity Event Module.

Key features in the latest release include question engine enhancements, proactive monitoring in the Identity Event Module, support for current address verifications (the address supplied by the customer must match their current or recent address), support for a new question type (based on the year that the individual lived in a specific city), and additional reports.

Contact RSA (themselves a division of EMC) for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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