What is GPG 45? How does it work?

The Good Practice Guide (GPG) 45 is a method of verifying a user's identification in order to provide them with access to services they are obliged to while also reducing the danger of identity fraud, which has been on the rise recently.

The identification process consists of five parts:

• Obtain proof of the claimed identity.
• Examine the evidence to see if it is authentic or valid.
• Check to see if the stated identity has existed for some time.
• Check to see if the given identity is vulnerable to identity theft.
• Verify that the individual claiming the identification is the rightful owner.

GPG 45 guidelines can assist you in verifying the identity of a client, employee, or third-party engaging in place of a firm. By verifying someone’s identity, it can be easier for you to assign things to relevant people and be confident in your decision.

Since the amount of identity frauds committed in the United Kingdom have been growing recently, it is all the more important to conduct regular identity checks.

How does the GPG 45 process work?

A person's identity is made up of a set of features that identify them. A single quality is rarely enough to distinguish one person from another, but a mixture of these qualities can be.

Performing several aspects of the identity checking process increases our trust in a person's identification, allowing us to be certain that they are who they claim they are. Each step of the identity verification process is given a score. The various combinations of these scores are called ‘identity profiles’. Each identity profile corresponds to one of four confidence levels: low, medium, high, or very high.

The range of types of information we can gather, the components of the id validation we undertake, and the scores we get for each part of the id validation define the level of confidence we have in an identity.

Which profile should you select?

The common profiles that most organisations ask for are low confidence and medium confidence.

Low confidence level

Low confidence in an identity means that there is evidence that the claimed identity exists in the real world and you have ensured that the risks of identity fraud related to the same identity have been reduced.

When compared to not conducting any identity checks, having low confidence in a person's identification reduces the likelihood of you accepting synthetic identities or impostors who are not close friends or family members of the identity they're impersonating.

Medium confidence level

Medium confidence level means that there is a strong evidence of existence of the proclaimed identity in the real world and you are confident that the risks related to identity fraud have been minimised.

Having medium confidence in one's identity, as opposed to low confidence, reduces the chance of accepting synthetic identities or impostors who aren't close friends or family members of the identity they're pretending to be or who don't look like the identity they're pretending to be.

What’s new in GPG 45?

Until date, the government has produced identification profiles to assist organisations in verifying identity in the public sector. Now, they are creating opportunity for private sector organisations to develop their own identity profiles based on the guide by isolating the guideline from the identity profiles.

Furthermore, the government has increased the number of identity profiles available. As a result, there are now additional ways to attain each confidence threshold in a validated identification. This should result in less conflict between citizens and government agencies, as well as more innovation and growth in the digital identity verification sector.

To learn more about GPG 45 guidelines, book a one on one demo with a specialist from Complygate.