Intro to Microsoft Entra Verified ID and Verifiable Credentials (VCs)
Microsoft Entra Verified ID
Microsoft Entra Verified ID introduces a real change in how organizations manage digital identity. As a decentralized identity solution, it enables users to own and control their credentials rather than relying on centralized databases that become attractive targets for attackers.
It’s a natural partnership: Microsoft provides the infrastructure and platform capabilities, while trusted partners like AU10TIX provide the verification and assurance layer. This partnership model ensures that the platform remains flexible and extensible while maintaining the highest standards of identity proofing.
AU10TIX’s role as a key launch partner underscores the strategic importance of combining Microsoft’s decentralized identity infrastructure with world-class identity verification capabilities. This collaboration addresses a critical gap in traditional identity systems: the ability to verify identity with high assurance while preserving user privacy and control.
Core Concepts of Verifiable Credentials (VCs)
Verifiable Credentials are digital proof that someone is who they say they are, without having to constantly check back with whoever issued it.
The VC ecosystem operates on what’s known as the Triangle of Trust:
- Issuer: AU10TIX performs the identity verification and issues the credential
- Holder: The end user (employee, customer, or partner) who stores the credential in their digital wallet
- Verifier: The enterprise application or service that needs to validate the credential
Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) serve as the foundation of this trust model. DIDs are globally unique identifiers that don’t require a central registration authority, enabling users to prove control over their credentials without exposing personally identifiable information unnecessarily.
High-Assurance Verification: AU10TIX’s Role
Traditional digital identity systems often rely on low-assurance verification methods like email confirmation or knowledge-based authentication. These methods are vulnerable to account takeover, synthetic identity fraud, and social engineering attacks.
By leveraging advanced cryptographic techniques, AU10TIX’s Verified ID ensures authenticity, privacy, and data integrity, eliminating the need for repeated verification and giving users greater control over their identity while reducing friction and security risk.
High-assurance verification solves this problem by binding the digital credential to real-world evidence: a government-issued identity document and biometric verification. This strong link between the physical person and their digital identity makes a big difference.
As businesses confront rising fraud threats and stricter regulatory demands, verified IDs provide a scalable, privacy-centric approach to identity verification. Key benefits of AU10TIX’s Verified ID include:
- Immediate Verification: Real-time processing reduces the risk of identity theft or fraud.
- Enhanced Security: Cryptographic techniques make digital IDs hard to forge or tamper with.
- Frictionless Verification: Allows users to effortlessly confirm their identity with minimal interaction.
- Reduced Liability: Complies with privacy and data minimization regulations, reducing exposure while meeting compliance standards.
In addition to IDV and biometric checks, AU10TIX Verified Digital ID equips enterprises with enhanced protection through a multi-layered defense framework. At its core is AU10TIX’s Serial Fraud Monitor, which leverages consortium data to detect and prevent repeated fraud attempts across the digital identity ecosystem.
By analyzing signals from a global network of identity verification activity, the solution uncovers patterns of fraud across different platforms and services – giving businesses the ability to intercept serial fraudsters early, even before onboarding begins.
The result is a credential that enterprises can trust represents a real, verified individual rather than a synthetic or stolen identity.
Reusable Identity: Single verification, multiple uses.
One of the most compelling advantages of the AU10TIX and Microsoft Entra integration is the reusable identity model. Traditional identity verification requires users to re-verify their identity for each new service or application, creating friction and redundant costs.
With AU10TIX-issued Verifiable Credentials, users complete a single high-assurance verification during onboarding. The resulting credential is stored securely in the Microsoft Authenticator app and can be presented to multiple enterprise systems without additional verification steps.
For enterprises, this translates to:
- Frictionless Access: Employees can access VPNs, HR systems, collaboration tools, and internal applications using a single verified credential
- Reduced Verification Costs: Eliminate redundant identity checks across multiple systems
- Improved Security Posture: Replace password-based authentication with cryptographically secure credential presentation
- Better User Experience: Remove repetitive verification steps that frustrate users and slow productivity
Technical Architecture and Integration
Architecture Overview
The Microsoft Entra Verified ID system with AU10TIX integration consists of three primary components that communicate through standards-based protocols:
The Wallet (Microsoft Authenticator): Stores the user’s DIDs and Verifiable Credentials. The wallet enables users to receive credentials from issuers and present them to verifiers on demand. All cryptographic operations happen locally on the user’s device.
The Issuer Service (AU10TIX): Performs identity verification and issues VCs upon successful completion. AU10TIX handles document capture, forensic analysis, biometric verification, and credential signing.
The Verifier (Microsoft Entra): Validates presented credentials and grants access to enterprise resources. Verifiers use cryptographic proof to confirm credential authenticity without contacting the issuer.
These components communicate using REST APIs and OpenID Connect (OIDC) standards, ensuring interoperability and industry-standard security. The architecture is designed to minimize data sharing: AU10TIX verifies the identity, Microsoft Entra manages the credential lifecycle, and the user controls when and where to present their credential.
Integration Flow
Setting up the AU10TIX integration with Microsoft Entra Verified ID is simple and straightforward. There are a few prerequisites, as seen below.
- An Azure AD tenant with Entra Verified ID enabled
- Microsoft Authenticator app available to end users
- Administrative access to configure credential issuers
Once you navigate to the Microsoft Entra Verified ID partner gallery and select AU10TIX as your identity verification provider, you’re done. AU10TIX is natively integrated with Entra, so configuration is a seamless “plug-and-play” within your Microsoft environment.
Integrated with Verified ID and Account Recovery workflows, with alignment to Conditional Access and Access Packages. Enjoy seamless, plug-and-play configuration within your Microsoft environment.
To configure, all that needs to be done is to navigate to the MS Entra Configuration Steps:
- Navigate to the Microsoft Entra Verified ID partner gallery in the Azure portal
- Select AU10TIX as your identity verification provider
The integration leverages Microsoft’s pre-built connectors, simplifying what would otherwise require custom API development and security implementation.
The Verification Flow (User Journey)
Tracking the user journey step by step, can explain how the technical components work together:
Step 1: Trigger
A user requests a credential. Imagine employee onboarding or when accessing a protected resource for the first time. The enterprise application calls the Entra Request Service API, which generates a unique verification session.
Step 2: Verification
The user is redirected to an AU10TIX-hosted secure session. Here, they:
- Capture images of their government-issued ID (front and back)
- Complete a biometric selfie with active liveness detection
- AU10TIX’s systems perform real-time document forensics and facial matching and all various layers and checks are done internally.
Step 3: Issuance
When verification is successful, AU10TIX signals Microsoft Entra with the verification results. Entra then generates a signed Verifiable Credential containing the verified claims and delivers it to the user via a QR code or deep link.
Step 4: Storage
The user scans the QR code or clicks the link using Microsoft Authenticator. The app securely stores the VC along with the user’s DID and private keys. All credential data remains on the user’s device, not in a centralized database.
Step 5: Presentation
When the user needs to prove their identity, they present the VC from their Authenticator app. The verifying system cryptographically validates the credential’s signature and checks its revocation status without contacting AU10TIX or exposing unnecessary personal data.
Privacy, Security, and Trust
The AU10TIX and Microsoft Entra integration is built on privacy-by-design principles:
User Control: AU10TIX verifies the identity data, but the resulting credential is owned by the user. Organizations cannot access the credential without the user’s explicit consent to present it.
Minimal Disclosure: Users can present credentials that prove specific claims (such as “over 18” or “employed by Company X”) without revealing underlying data like date of birth or employee ID number.
Cryptographic Integrity: Every VC is digitally signed using AU10TIX’s private key. Verifiers use the corresponding public key to confirm the credential hasn’t been tampered with since issuance. Any modification to the credential data invalidates the signature.
Revocation Support: If a credential needs to be revoked (employee termination, compromised device), the issuer can publish revocation information without accessing or modifying the user’s wallet.
Secure Communication: All data transmission uses TLS encryption, and biometric data is never stored in raw form. AU10TIX processes biometric templates using one-way hashing to prevent reconstruction of the original biometric data.
Enterprise Use Cases
The combination of AU10TIX verification and Microsoft Entra VCs currently enables account recovery support. In the near future, we expect to add several transformative use cases:
Remote Onboarding
Organizations can confidently ship laptops and grant system access to new hires who have never visited an office. The high-assurance verification ensures the person receiving equipment is who they claim to be. IT departments can require VC presentation before provisioning accounts or shipping hardware, eliminating the risk of equipment fraud.
Helpdesk Automation
Self-service account recovery becomes secure and frictionless. Instead of answering knowledge-based questions or waiting for manual verification, users can present their VC to reset passwords or unlock accounts. This reduces helpdesk volume while improving security compared to traditional recovery methods.
Physical Access Integration
The digital VC can serve as the source of truth for physical badge issuance. When an employee presents their VC at a badge office, the verified identity data populates the badge system without manual data entry. For visitors or contractors, temporary credentials can be issued based on VC presentation, enabling audit trails of physical access.
Third-Party Service Access
Partners and contractors can be granted access to specific applications or resources by presenting VCs issued through AU10TIX. This eliminates the need to create guest accounts or manage separate identity systems for external users.
Compliance and Audit
Regulated industries can demonstrate compliance with identity verification requirements by showing cryptographic proof of high-assurance verification. The VC itself serves as auditable evidence of completed KYC or background checks.
Conclusion: The Future of Identity
The partnership between AU10TIX and Microsoft Entra Verified ID represents a fundamental evolution in enterprise identity management. By combining high-assurance verification with decentralized credentials, organizations can finally achieve the dual goals of stronger security and better user experience.
Traditional identity systems force organizations to choose: either burden users with repetitive verification steps or accept lower assurance levels to reduce friction. The AU10TIX integration eliminates this trade off. Users verify their identity once with rigorous document and biometric checks, then reuse that verified credential across unlimited applications and services.
For enterprises, this means reduced operational costs, improved security posture, and compliance-ready audit trails. For users, it means less friction, greater privacy, and true ownership of their digital identity.
As digital identity continues to evolve, the reusable credential model will become the standard for high-stakes identity verification. Organizations that adopt this approach now position themselves at the forefront of secure, user-centric identity management.
Ready to implement high-assurance Verifiable Credentials? Learn more about the AU10TIX integration on the Microsoft Entra Verified ID partner gallery.
