Glossary

The vocabulary of digital identity

Every term, defined in one sentence and explained in the depth a decision actually needs. No marketing, and no jargon that adds nothing.

42 terms

A

Account takeoverTaking control of someone else's account.Identity fraud Adaptive authenticationMatching what you ask for to the risk of each operation.Authentication and access AMLThe framework against money laundering.Compliance and regulation

B

Biometric deduplicationDetecting that a person already signed up under another identity.Identity verification Biometric templateThe numeric representation of a trait, not the image.Biometrics and liveness

C

CIAMCustomer identity and access management.Identity verification Continuous authenticationVerifying throughout the session, not only at sign-in.Authentication and access Credential stuffingTrying leaked credentials at scale.Identity fraud

D

DeepfakeA face or voice generated with AI to impersonate someone.Identity fraud Digital identityThe set of attributes that represent a person online.Identity verification Digital onboardingSigning up a customer with no physical presence.Identity verification Document verificationValidating that a document is genuine and was not altered.Identity verification Due diligenceThe level of scrutiny each customer warrants.Compliance and regulation

F

Facial biometricsIdentifying a person by the features of their face.Biometrics and liveness FATF and GAFILATWho sets the rules of the game regionally.Compliance and regulation FIDO2The standard behind passkeys.Authentication and access FMR and FNMRThe two ways a biometric system gets it wrong.Biometrics and liveness Front-and-back cross-checkChecking the data on one side against the other.Identity documents

I

iBeta certificationThe lab that audits liveness detection against the standard.Biometrics and liveness ICAO 9303The standard that harmonises travel documents.Identity documents Identity verificationChecking that a person is who they claim to be.Identity verification Injection attackFeeding the system without going through the camera.Identity fraud ISO/IEC 30107-3The standard that defines how liveness detection is measured.Biometrics and liveness

K

KYBThe same obligation, applied to companies.Identity verification KYCKnowing the customer before opening the relationship.Identity verification

L

Liveness detectionEstablishing that there is a live person in front of the camera.Biometrics and liveness

M

MFARequiring more than one factor to prove identity.Authentication and access MRZThe machine-readable strip on a document.Identity documents

N

NFC chipThe document that is read by proximity.Identity documents

O

Obliged entityWho has to report.Compliance and regulation OCRTurning the image of a document into data.Identity documents OTPA single-use code.Authentication and access

P

PADPresentation attack detection.Biometrics and liveness PasskeyA cryptographic credential tied to the device.Authentication and access Passwordless authenticationProving identity with no shared secret.Authentication and access PDF417The two-dimensional barcode on many ID cards.Identity documents PEPA politically exposed person.Compliance and regulation

S

SIM swappingStealing the phone line to intercept the codes.Identity fraud SSOOne session, several applications.Authentication and access Synthetic identityAn identity that belongs to no one.Identity fraud

V

Voice biometricsIdentifying a person by their voiceprint.Biometrics and liveness

W

WatchlistsWhat a person is screened against.Compliance and regulation

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