For today’s businesses, security and employee experience shouldn't be a trade-off. Online interactions are booming—but so are the risks. Hackers are relentless, exploiting every vulnerability they can find. The surge in identity theft, synthetic fraud, and account takeovers is proof that security has never been more critical. The financial consequences are staggering: the average cost of a data breach still climbs to multi-million dollar figures globally.
The primary vulnerability in modern cybersecurity is no longer a technical flaw but the human element, aggressively exploited through stolen identities.
The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 confirms that stolen or compromised credentials are the most common initial attack vector, responsible for 16% of all breaches. These credential-based breaches are not only frequent but also the most damaging. They are among the costliest, averaging $4.81 million, and they take the longest to stop, requiring an average of 292 days to identify and contain. This extended lifecycle highlights the critical and expensive challenge of securing user access.
The threat is now evolving beyond protecting existing systems to include infiltration through the hiring process. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 1 in 4 candidate profiles worldwide could be fake. This identity crisis is already enabling severe national security and corporate risks, with reports that North Korean IT worker infiltrations exploded 220% over the past 12 months, often weaponizing generative AI at every stage of the hiring process.
This is why Entrust is collaborating with Microsoft to leverage the power of Microsoft Entra Verified ID. By combining Entrust’s market-leading Identity Verification technology with Microsoft's decentralized identity solution, we deliver a security framework that is both robust and streamlined.
Decentralized Identity: Assurance Without Friction
Microsoft Entra Verified ID is built on a foundation of decentralized, user-controlled identity. This new paradigm gives the employer the assurance that the employee is who they say they are, while simultaneously allowing the employee to maintain control of their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and reuse the verification without unnecessary friction.
This verifiable credentials model offers a broad range of applications that facilitate phishing-resistant authentication across numerous enterprise systems for a single solution.
Use Cases for Enhanced Identity Verification
Integrating robust, real-world identity verification into your Microsoft Entra ID authentication process strengthens your security framework and proactively mitigates rising threats like credential theft and synthetic fraud. Verifiable credentials transform the way organizations manage identity across critical employee interactions, ensuring high-assurance security without sacrificing a streamlined user experience.
Here are the key use cases where this integration makes the greatest impact:
- Remote Hiring & Employee Onboarding: Ensure the person being onboarded is the correct individual, reducing time-to-hire and mitigating risk. This process uses enhanced biometric and document verification to quickly validate a new user's real identity during initial sign-in.
- Self-Service Password Reset: Replace costly support calls and vulnerable security questions with a streamlined, fully automated process. Biometric verification provides a phishing-resistant layer of assurance, preventing unauthorized access even if a temporary password is used.
- Securing Privileged & Help Desk Access: Mandate high-assurance identity verification for employees accessing business-critical systems or support channels. This proactively protects against credential and identity theft, a crucial step to avoid devastating, multi-million dollar data breaches and meet compliance requirements.
Securing the Weakest Link: Phishing-Resistant Account Recovery
Account recovery—even a simple password reset — is one of the most vulnerable moments in the employee lifecycle, often opening the door to credential theft through social engineering or phishing. The integration of Entrust’s high-assurance identity verification with Microsoft Entra ID is designed to eliminate this risk by linking a user's digital identity to their real-world identity. Our integration secures this process with a streamlined, fully automated self-service experience that replaces vulnerable security questions and costly support calls.
Here is an example of a secure, self-service account recovery process through our integration:
- Login Challenge: If an employee needs to reset a forgotten or expired password, they will receive a link to start the process to verify their identity.
- Identity Verification: Instead of answering obscure security questions, The employee scans their government identity document and takes a selfie. The Entrust system verifies the authenticity of the document, checks for deep fakes and other fraud vectors as well as matching the selfie to the photo on the document.
- Saved to the Authenticator: Once the employee’s identity has been verified, they can store the verified identity in their Microsoft Authenticator App. This allows the employee to control their data without compromising convenience.
- Access Granted: After sharing the verified ID from the Microsoft Authenticator App, the employee is redirected to set a new password. Employees can reset their passwords with confidence, knowing their account is safeguarded with a real identity. By adding an extra layer of security with ID Verification, organizations can prevent unauthorized access, even if a password is compromised.
Entrust's Advantage: Enterprise-Grade Identity Verification
Choosing Entrust means adding layers of assurance built for the most complex enterprise environments.
- Privacy & Data Sovereignty: Decentralized, user-controlled identity architecture with no persistent 3rd party storage or use of employee data, aligning with global data protection standards.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: High-assurance identity verification framework with advanced fraud detection using AI. Entrust protects against sophisticated digital spoofs, display attacks, 2D & 3D masks, and deepfakes with ISO-30107-3 PAD Level 1 & 2 conformant anti-spoofing technology, tested by iBeta Quality Assurance. The solution complies with technical standards and regulations such as GDPR, NIST, eIDAS 2.0, Privacy by Design, SOC 2 and more.
- Optimized User Experience: Seamless user onboarding meeting accessibility standards and a unified identity across systems and touchpoints.
- Global Reach & Compliance: Coverage across 195 countries with 2,500+ document types, with proven experience navigating local regulatory requirements.
By implementing Entrust's IDV solution with Microsoft Entra Verified ID, your organization can prevent unauthorized access, even if a password is compromised. It’s the critical step toward an identity-first approach to security, protecting your assets while delivering the seamless user experience your employees expect.
