Microsoft has introduced a new identity theft protection tool to help protect Azure user data online.
Entra Verified ID helps Azure AD customers confirm people's personal and professional claims, allowing users to issue, request, and verify credentials that represent proof of employment, education, or similar.
In a blog post (opens in a new tab) announcing the launch, Ankur Patel, Microsoft Growth Manager for Identity Security, outlined how free and paid users of Azure AD customers can design and issue verifiable credentials, as well as choose when and with whom. Share.
Access control
Each identifier is signed with cryptographic keys that only the user owns and controls. These credentials will remain valid even if the issuing institution no longer exists, says Patel. Additionally, these credentials are standards-based, making it easy for developers to integrate them into their products. Applications can request and verify credentials through APIs, which are part of the service.
To manage and present these credentials, customers can use Microsoft Authenticator, Patel added. This gives them control over who can access the credentials, even in scenarios where they are issued by an organization. "We will add features such as selective disclosure, derivative claims (for example, proof of age instead of date of birth), and measures that prevent correlation," he said.
They are also interoperable, which means that anyone can create compatible digital wallets. This feature was co-developed by Microsoft and its partners IBM, Workday, Ping, and Mattr. "This interoperability profile gives application developers a consistent way to manage credentials within the digital wallets they create and switch between wallets," Patel concluded.
In the event of lost or stolen credentials (opens in a new tab), they can be recovered using a mnemonic-based scheme.
Microsoft Entra, a general identity management platform (opens in a new tab), was first announced in early June this year. The goal of the project is to radically simplify the management and verification of digital identity, unlocking benefits for consumers and business customers.
“Our interconnected world requires a flexible and agile model in which people, organizations, applications and even smart devices can make access decisions in real time with confidence,” the company explained at the time. "We need to grow and expand our capabilities to support all the scenarios our customers face."