Kantara Approves Neustar Caller Authentication, Identity Verification and Digital Identity Risk as a Component Service

Neustar’s digital and call center identity service is conformant with NIST SP 800-63 rev.3 (Technical) Class of Approval at IAL2 and AAL2 

Feb. 17, 2021 – STERLING, Virginia – Neustar Inc., a global information services and technology company and leader in identity resolution, today announced its Caller Authentication, Identity Verification and Digital Identity Risk service has been approved by Kantara Initiative as a Component – Partial Service, conformant with NIST SP 800-63 rev.3 (Technical) Class of Approval at Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) and Authenticator Assurance Level 2 (AAL2). Kantara is the leading global consortium improving trustworthy use of identity and personal data through innovation, standardization and good practice. As the provider of a Credential Service, approved by Kantara Initiative, Neustar can more effectively serve the federal market and address digital identity proofing and authentication service requirements with accurate, frictionless identity verification. 

NIST 800-63-3 guidelines aim to decrease the risks of unauthorized access to individuals’ information by standardizing the security requirements for all citizen-facing applications that require a high degree of trust, beginning with digital identity verification. Designated within the Kantara NIST 800-63 rev.3 (Technical) Class of Approval, Neustar’s approval offers a trusted service to federal agencies.

“From coordinating complex federal initiatives, like contact tracing, to fielding daily service calls involving the transfer of personal and financial information, it is critical that governments have the proper tools in place to verify the identity of the person on the other end of the interaction with confidence, speed and accuracy,” said Tom McNeal, vice president of partner channel and public sector for Neustar. “These solutions have been reducing customer friction and fraud across multiple private sector industries, like finance and healthcare, for years. This approval gives an essential third-party validation to our exceptional identity authentication and resolution solutions and signals the unique value our solutions bring to improving government and customer experience in the phone and digital channels. These solutions will enable an omni-channel customer experience for governments akin to those provided in the private sector, at the moments that matter most.”

Neustar authentication solutions accurately and seamlessly identify and authenticate the person on the other end of every interaction. For call center agents, Neustar Inbound Authentication securely verifies and authenticates an inbound caller’s identity before a government agency’s IVR system engages with the caller. For web users and those accessing digital services, Neustar Digital Identity Risk authenticates the consumer behind the device by automatically comparing the applicant’s submitted PII to device-based observations and corroborating the device information with the person’s offline identity data. Powered by Neustar’s OneID® – an unrivaled identity graph platform that enables resolution of virtual and physical identifiers by responsibly connecting people, location, and device data – Neustar authentication solutions reduce risk exposure and maximize efficiencies for government agencies, while also removing friction and improving the citizen experience for legitimate customers. 

“As part of Kantara’s mission to improve the trustworthy use of identity and personal data in a secure, privacy-enabled connected world, we’ve developed criteria to assess an organization’s ability to meet the security and privacy controls for all U.S. federal information systems,” said Colin Wallis, executive director of the Kantara Initiative. “Neustar’s Caller Authentication, Identity Verification and Digital Identity Risk service has been assessed against Kantara service assessment criteria under NIST SP 800-63 rev.3 (Technical) Class of Approval, at IAL2 and AAL2, and it is approved as a Component – Partial Service. This Kantara Trust Mark provides assurance about Neustar’s digital and call center identity service to federal agencies and others looking to improve their authentication and fraud prevention strategies.” 

Neustar’s NIST SP 800-63-3 certification is available for the public to view here. For more information about Neustar and its authentication and identity resolution solutions, visit https://www.risk.neustar. To learn more about Kantara Initiative, visit https://kantarainitiative.org.

About Neustar
Neustar is an information services and technology company and a leader in identity resolution providing the data and technology that enables trusted connections between companies and people at the moments that matter most. Neustar offers industry-leading solutions in Marketing, Risk, Communications and Security that responsibly connect data on people, devices and locations, continuously corroborated through billions of transactions. Neustar serves more than 8,000 clients worldwide, including 60 of the Fortune 100. Learn how your company can benefit from the power of trusted connections here: https://www.home.neustar.

About Kantara

The Kantara Initiative is the leading global community commons improving trustworthy use of identity and personal data through innovation, standardization and good practice. Kantara nurtures ground-breaking R&D, develops specifications and operates conformity assessment programs for the digital identity and personal data ecosystems. Kantara provides its coveted eID assisting Identity Assurance Trust Mark and ground-breaking specifications for User Managed Access, and the privacy enabling Consent Receipt. More information is available at https://kantarainitiative.org/.

Follow Kantara Initiative on Twitter — @KantaraNews.