The AO's Role
In 2005, MIT Technology Review magazine declared on its cover story headline “The Internet Is Broken.”
And all these years later – it’s still broken. In fact it’s gotten worse. Malware, breaches, phishing attacks, ransomware, and fraud are more common than ever.
The heart of the problem is that on the internet, accountability is scarce. Anyone can claim to be anyone.
And it’s not just the internet. Banks, government agencies, healthcare providers, insurers and others are more and more without ways of knowing whether people are
who they claim to be. They find themselves paying for costly identity verification services for every transaction, only to repeat the process for the next transaction.
Most recently, banks and other institutions have initiated programs where prospective account holders can request accounts online using biometrics. This practice has resulted in establishing fraudulent customer accounts as the actual identity of the individual was not validated in the process. If you have two minutes, the “Tommelganger” video link provides a good explanation of severity of the problem and the need for establishing a measurably reliable identity of the individual.
An Attestation Officer solves the problem by enrolling individuals, either online or face-to-face, into a permanent identity credentialing system. Information that supports the enrollee’s claim to identity is captured in a record that accompanies their credential, so that any relying party can know the degree to which they can trust the identity credential.
For starters, an Attestation Officer is a Remote Online Notary (RON). The Attestation Officer candidate goes through additional training through the Authenticity University to certify them as an Attestation Officer.
Just as most notaries keep a journal, the Attestation Officer keeps a record of ALL enrollments and offers additional-cost subscription services such as keeping backups of credential keys in case the enrollee loses theirs.
For more specifics contact Juanita Lyons