These guidelines provide technical requirements for federal agencies implementing digital identity services and are not intended to constrain the development or use of standards outside of this purpose. This guideline focuses on the enrollment and verification of an identity for use in digital authentication.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Biometric identification technologies—such as facial recognition and fingerprinting—can affect underserved communities, including low-income and minority communities. GAO interviewed academics, advocacy groups, and technology experts to find out how.
On May 19, 2023, the Digital Benefits Network published a new, open dataset documenting authentication and identity proofing requirements across online SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid, child care (CCAP)applications, and unemployment insurance applications. This page includes data and observations about authentication and identity proofing steps specifically for online unemployment insurance applications.
Created for use in the Digital Doorways research project, this design stimuli shows the steps of submitting an application, sharing personal information, and verifying identity for New York's online application for Medicaid.
This page includes data and observations about authentication and identity proofing steps specifically for online applications that include MAGI Medicaid.
This post argues that for the types of large-scale, organized fraud attacks that many state benefits systems saw during the pandemic, solutions grounded in cybersecurity methods may be far more effective than creating or adopting automated systems.
In February 2023, the Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation released a dataset documenting authentication and identity verification requirements that unemployment insurance (UI) applicants encounter across the United States. This resource outlines high-level observations from the data and more information about the research process.
On July 16, members of the Digital Identity Community of practice gathered to learn how peers are gathering beneficiary feedback on their experiences with accounts and proving their identity.
In 2024, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Digital Benefits Network led a workshop to explore key terms related to digital identity, and provide ecosystem-level context on how authentication and identity proofing may show up in the online benefits experience and impact clients. This resource links to the presentation slides.
This simulator, created by the Joint Financial Management and Improvement Program (JFMIP), allows users to model program performance for a hypothetical government program, based on different identity verification decisions. The simulator illustrates concepts from the JFMIP report on payment integrity.
Joint Financial Management and Improvement Program (JFMIP)
