How to verify a signer's identity remotely.
When nobody is in the room, a signature is only as good as your confidence that the right person made it. These are the ways to get that confidence, from the lightest to the strongest, and how to choose.
Why a link alone is not enough
Sending a signing link to an email address proves one thing: that someone with access to that inbox opened it. It does not prove who they are. If the signature is later challenged, "it went to their email" is a weak answer.
The main methods, lightest to strongest
- A one-time code sent to the phone number you have on file. It shows that the person holding the link also holds the phone you expected.
- Knowledge questions drawn from the person's records. These are easy to defeat once data has leaked, so they work best as one layer among several.
- Government photo ID, captured and read. The document type, jurisdiction, name, date of birth and expiry are taken from the document itself rather than typed in.
- A live face match against that ID, with a check that a real person is present. This is what separates a person from a photograph of a person.
- Address validation, so the record does not rest on a typed line that nobody looked at.
Choosing how much you need
Match the method to what is at stake. A low-value acknowledgement may only need a code. A legal instrument, a lending file or anything an auditor may later examine usually calls for photo ID and a live match. When you are unsure, ask what you would need to show if the signature were disputed in two years, and work back from there.
What to keep afterwards
The strongest record is the outcome: that a live person was matched to a specific government document, at a specific moment, with consent recorded for the jurisdiction they were in. You do not need to keep the face itself, and keeping less biometric data is safer for everyone.
Also keep the surrounding evidence: the time, the IP address, the device and the order of events. That is what lets you show that the person who verified is the person who signed.
Consent is part of verification
Collecting biometric data is regulated, and the rules differ by place. What is acceptable in one province or state may not be in another, so consent has to be asked for properly and recorded against the jurisdiction the signer is in.
How Trust Ledger does it
Every signature on Trust Ledger carries two-factor authentication. Biometric verification, which covers ID and passport capture, a live face match and address validation, is available on every plan and charged per verification. The biometric template is not kept after the match completes; the outcome is. The identity page shows the six steps, and the pricing page shows what verification costs.