New Approach in Decentralized Identifiers Will Provide Microsoft Azure Active Directory Users Control Over ID Management
As organizations continue to shift services online, establishing trust without sacrificing convenience has become one of the biggest challenges in digital identity management. Businesses need secure ways to verify users, protect sensitive information, and streamline access to applications, all while meeting growing consumer expectations around privacy and control. Traditional authentication methods are increasingly giving way to more advanced solutions that put users at the center of the identity verification process.
The collaboration between Acuant and Microsoft highlights the growing importance of verifiable credentials in the digital economy. By combining Acuant’s My Digital ID solution with Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory ecosystem, the partnership aims to give individuals greater ownership of their personal information while helping organizations improve onboarding, authentication, and account recovery processes. The initiative reflects a broader movement toward secure, privacy-focused digital identity frameworks built on open standards.
LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2021 – Acuant, a leading global provider of identity verification solutions, today announced its collaboration with Microsoft to improve verifiability and secure information exchange in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) through Acuant’s My Digital ID.
Azure AD verifiable credentials are now available in public preview. The introduction of Azure AD verifiable credentials allows businesses and users to establish trust without sacrificing data privacy, changing the way we grant permissions to access information. My Digital ID from Acuant will be an offering that enables organizations to issue, request and verify digital credentials to accelerate onboarding of new and existing users, secure access to apps and enable a more trustworthy credential recovery experience.
Through an open standards approach, organizations are enabled to verify a wide variety of attributions including identity documents, biometrics and other identification data providing individuals with more control of their shared personal information.
Acuant’s real time, multi-factor authentication credential facilitates frictionless onboarding, helps eliminate security concerns and protects the personal data and privacy of users, all in one digital wallet. The end result is a verified My Digital ID card (verified credential) that will be in the Microsoft Authenticator app and other wallet apps that support open standards.
Benefits of My Digital ID in Azure AD:
• Ease of Use and Control: Users can verify their identity once to use everywhere it is accepted and are in control of the data they choose to share.
• Fast and Secure Remote Onboarding: Rapidly onboard users with a universal platform for verifying employment, eligibility and digital identification.
• Self-Service Enrollment and Account Recovery: Enable passwordless authentication, replace usernames and knowledge-based authentication (KBA) with secure ID verification during enrollment and account recovery.
• Secure Access to Apps: Store and present verified credentials to determine the level of access to grant users to resources and applications.
“We know the world is going digital-fast, and we need technology that can establish trust wherever consumers want to transact,” said Yossi Zekri, President and CEO of Acuant. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Microsoft and contribute to bringing an open standards approach for verifiable credentials to the masses, putting them in control of their data.”
Sue Bohn, Partner Director Program Management, Identity Division at Microsoft Corp. said, “Verifiable credentials will revolutionize the way we grant access to information. Organizations will be able to verify identity information quickly with solutions like Acuant’s My Digital ID, while individuals will be able to own and control their credentials.”
As digital interactions become the norm across industries, organizations must find ways to balance security, privacy, and user experience. Verifiable credentials offer a promising approach by allowing individuals to control their identity data while enabling businesses to establish trust more efficiently.
Through their collaboration, Acuant and Microsoft are helping advance the adoption of verifiable credentials as a practical solution for secure digital identity management. By reducing friction in onboarding, strengthening authentication, and improving data privacy, these technologies could play a significant role in shaping the future of trusted digital interactions.
For a demo, please visit Acuant’s My Digital ID.
About Acuant
Acuant is a leading global provider of identity verification, regulatory compliance (AML/KYC) and digital identity solutions. Our Trusted Identity Platform is powered by AI and human assisted machine learning to deliver unparalleled results and operational efficiency. Omnichannel deployment delivers seamless customer experiences to fight fraud, increase conversions and establish trust in seconds. With leading partners in every major industry and completing more than 1billion transactions in over 200 countries and territories, Acuant is the leader in global coverage.
