Verifying a user's identity based on adaptive identity assurance levels
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that manages access to a computer-based resource. During operation, the system obtains a request for the computer-based resource, wherein the request identifies a user seeking access to the computer-based resource. Next, the system obtains a set of security levels for a set of identity-proofing techniques, wherein the set of security levels is based on a first set of success rates of the identity-proofing techniques in preventing fraudulent access to computer-based resources. The system then calculates an identity assurance level for the user based on the set of security levels and a second set of success rates of the user in completing one or more of the identity-proofing techniques. Upon determining that the identity assurance level of the user meets a minimum identity assurance level for accessing the computer-based resource, the system enables access to the computer-based resource in a response to the request.
1. A method for managing access to a computer-based resource, comprising:
receiving a request from a user for a computer-based resource, wherein the computer-based resource is associated with a minimum identity assurance level;
determining an identity assurance level of the user by;
calculating an identity-proofing success rate based on usage data in a usage repository for each of a plurality of identity-proofing techniques;
determining a security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques based on the respective identity-proofing success rate associated with the respective identify-proofing technique,
calculating a user success rate based on the usage data in the usage repository for each of a plurality of identity-proofing techniques; and
calculating the identity assurance level of the user based on the user success rate and the security level of each of the plurality of the identify-proofing techniques; and
determining the identity assurance level of the user meets the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource; and
enabling access to the computer-based resource in a response to the request.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining the identity assurance level of the user does not meet the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource; and
providing, in the response, one or more options for increasing the identity assurance level of the user.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing the one or more options for increasing the identity assurance level of the user comprises: initiating one or more of the identity-proofing techniques.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques further comprises at least one of:
ranking each identity-proofing technique based on the respective identity-proofing success rate; or
adjusting the security level based on a security policy.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the usage data for calculating the identity-proofing success rate comprises at least one of:
a security incident rate for the identity-proofing technique; or
a fraud rate for the identity-proofing technique.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein enabling access to the computer-based resource in the response comprises:
retrieving the computer-based resource from a provider of the computer-based resource; and
providing the computer-based resource to the user in the response.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each identity-proofing technique verifies at least one aspect of the user identity.
8. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive a request from a user a computer-based resource, wherein the computer-based resource is associated with a minimum identity assurance level;
determine an identity assurance level of the user by;
calculating an identity-proofing success rate based on usage data in a usage repository for each of a plurality of identity-proofing techniques;
determining a security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques based on the respective identity-proofing success rate associated with the respective identify-proofing technique;
calculating a user success rate based on the usage data in the usage repository for each of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques; and
calculating the identity assurance level of the user based on the user success rate and the security level of each of the plurality of identify-proofing techniques; and
determine the identity assurance level of the user meets the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource; and
enable access to the computer-based resource in a response to the request.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine the identity assurance level of the user does not meet the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource; and
provide, in the response, one or more options for increasing the identity assurance level of the user.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein determining the security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques further comprises at least one of:
ranking each identity-proofing technique based on the respective identity-proofing success rate; or
adjusting the security level based on a security policy.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the usage data for calculating the identity-proofing success rate comprises at least one of:
a security incident rate for the identity-proofing technique; or
a fraud rate for the identity-proofing technique.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each identity-proofing technique verifies at least one aspect of the user's identity.
13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for managing access to a computer-based resource, the method comprising:
receiving a request from a user for a computer-based resource, wherein the computer-based resource is associated with a minimum identity assurance level;
determining an identity assurance level of the user by;
calculating an identity-proofing success rate based on usage data in a usage repository for each of a plurality of identity-proofing techniques;
determining a security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques based on the respective identity-proofing success rate associated with the respective identify-proofing technique;
calculating a user success rate based on the usage data in the usage repository for each of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques; and
calculating the identity assurance level of the user based on the user success rate and the security level of each of the plurality of identify-proofing techniques; and
determining the identity assurance level of the user meets the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource; and
enabling access to the computer-based resource in a response to the request.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining the identity assurance level of the user does not meet the minimum identity assurance level associated with the computer-based resource: and
providing, in the response, one or more options for increasing the identity assurance level of the user.
15. The method of claim 3 , wherein initiating the one or more identity proofing techniques is based on a security policy.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the usage data for calculating the user success rate comprises at least one of:
a number of successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a frequency of the successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a number of failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique; or
a frequency of the failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique.
17. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the usage data for calculating the user success rate comprises at least one of:
a number of successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a frequency of the successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a number of failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique; or
a frequency of the failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the determining the security level for each respective identity-proofing technique of the plurality of identity-proofing techniques further comprises at least one of:
ranking each identity-proofing technique based on the respective identity-proofing success rate; or
adjusting the security level based on a security policy.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the usage data for calculating the user success rate comprises at least one of:
a number of successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a frequency of the successful attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique;
a number of failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique; or
a frequency of the failed attempts by the user at completing the identity-proofing technique.