Assumptions made by many CSPs that standard IAL2 identity proofing suffices for FedRAMP High are incorrect; instead, their control text specifies that each subscriber account must be bound to an authenticator at an AAL of choice in order to be compliant.
Modern identity platforms implement the NIST modular framework through adaptive, continuous verification and hardware authenticators to meet scalability and security requirements, helping reduce fraud, protect data and build trust in digital interactions.
FedRAMP High
Low Authorization can serve as the starting point for smaller vendors or agencies providing services that don't handle sensitive information, while High requires extensive system security practices and evidence of compliance to demonstrate compliance. Documents created through FedRAMP's rigorous evaluation create a rich knowledge base which supports consistent implementation of advanced security practices; while its centralized approach to security assessment monitoring and authorization makes satisfying multiple regulatory requirements simpler than ever.
Moderate is recommended for systems where breaches could have severe or catastrophic repercussions for organizational operations, assets or individuals. It's often used by law enforcement and emergency services departments or financial data systems and often forms the minimum requirements of federal contracts.
An IAL3 authorization opens your company up to lucrative government contracts in high-value industries like healthcare, defense and other regulated industries that share similar security concerns. Independent validation through FedRAMP High assessments such as advanced penetration testing and detailed control validation further add credibility to your security claims while distinguishing you from competitors with less stringent certifications.
Trustswiftly uses IAL3 to validate identities by reading encrypted data in modern ID documents' cryptographic chips rather than using visual scans or photographs as evidence of identification. This process creates a three-way match between live persons, their physical ID document and biometric information contained on the chip - eliminating risks related to physical forgeries and artificially created personae that compromise digital identities and authentication processes.
NIST SP 800-63-4
NIST Special Publication 800-63-4 presents identity management as a modular, risk-based framework that aligns with modern security realities. It sets assurance levels such as identity proofing (IAL), authentication (AAL), and federation (FAL), while providing guidelines that take an holistic view of risks and demands of digital identity ecosystems - with this version including repurposing fedramp high identity proofing level while simultaneously increasing requirements for phishing-resistant MFA and hardware authenticators as well as expanding enrollment processes options and creating more options overall. Additionally, new requirements were set forth for managing lifecycle of authenticators as well as managing trust transactions which were also implemented with new requirements set for managing lifecycle of authenticators/federated trust transactions to keep pace with developments within digital identity ecosystems.
Identity Proofing using IAL3 requires strong evidence, biometric binds and supervision by trained representatives. A trusted device that reads cryptographic chips found on government ID documents provides an enforceable digital signature which reduces physical forgeries while permitting an authorized representative to oversee verification processes.
Trustswiftly manages our hardware fleet for efficient and secure IAL3 proofing through our nist ial3 verification -service model, offering on-premise kiosks and shippable remote kits to fulfill physical presence requirements of IAL3. Our system then uses both chip data and live face ial3 identity verification software to provide identity confirmation with maximum assurance; providing users with an optimal user experience while eliminating staff travel expenses and cutting operational costs.
Zero Trust
Security landscape has dramatically evolved with innovations in cloud resources and web apps, remote work and IoT devices surpassing traditional network perimeters. Zero Trust allows organizations to extend their IT infrastructure beyond the traditional perimeter while keeping pace with innovation while eliminating manual processes that clog up efficiency and cost more money than necessary. Zero Trust operates under the principle "never trust, always verify" to authenticate users, devices and data before permitting access to critical business systems or information.
Zero Trust requires continuous analysis from across your IT environment in order to make effective security decisions, such as user behavior, device health and connectivity, network anomalies and their resulting effects. For effective security decisions, Zero Trust must adopt a dynamic identity management solution with flexible deployment. Zero Trust integrates capabilities like identity lifecycle management, multi-factor authentication (MFA), unified access management (UAM), secure application gateways as part of this holistic security approach and provides continuous verification, authentication and authorization services.
Zero Trust can also assist in protecting workload communications across a multicloud environment, preventing threat infections and data leakage, as well as safeguarding IoT/OT environments by enforcing least-privileged policies. Furthermore, Zero Trust enables contractors and partners to gain secure yet low-trust access to an organization's network without requiring endpoint agents; this eliminates costs for IT support for third parties as well as potential insider threats.
Authentication
Authentication software ensures that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data and ensures only accurate access is being gained. It uses multiple layers of verification - biometrics, document validation and direct interaction with individuals - in order to verify identities. Furthermore, IT departments can easily manage nist 800-63-4 ial3 compliance and security posture with this centralized view of authentication processes.
AAL1 (Assurance Level 1) provides basic confidence that the claimant controls one or more authenticators tied to their subscriber account. To meet this level of assurance, this level requires either single-factor or multi-factor authentication using various technologies (such as cryptographic techniques).
At AAL2 and higher levels of protection are offered through two authenticators to increase protection from highly scalable attacks such as phishing, spoofing and identity theft. An authenticator with non-exportable private keys provides extra phishing resistance.
CSPs create subscriber accounts to identify each subscriber and record information about their authenticators, along with assigning attributes and federated identifiers that form a "trusted attribute bundle," which the claimant is responsible for protecting and controlling against threats. This bundle may be stored securely on devices owned and managed by them (e.g. smartphones).
