Glossary
Identity Proofing
Identity proofing happens at enrollment, before an ongoing authentication relationship even exists: it's the process of establishing that the person creating an account is genuinely who they claim to be, using evidence appropriate to how consequential that account will be. A low-stakes account might need almost none; an account with access to sensitive systems or financial authority typically needs more.
Proofing and authentication solve different problems and are easy to conflate. Authentication answers whether this login attempt matches the account's established credential. Proofing answers a prior, one-time question: was the account tied to a real, verified identity in the first place. A system can authenticate flawlessly forever while having proofed the original identity poorly.