5 Best Practices for Secure Identity Verification

Credential theft skyrocketed by 160% in 2025, now accounting for one in five data breaches as attackers leverage AI-driven tactics to bypass conventional defenses. The modern challenge for security teams is no longer just about verifying identities; it’s about doing so securely without adding friction for legitimate users. Weak onboarding processes, an overreliance on static credentials, and inconsistent authentication policies all create gaps that attackers are quick to exploit.

Making identity verification as robust as possible has become a cornerstone of effective cyber resilience. Here are five best practices organizations can adopt to strengthen identity verification and build more resilient access controls across their networks.

1. Implement strong, fatigue-resistant multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) remains a highly effective tool for bolstering identity verification and lowering the risk of account compromise. Instead of relying solely on a password, MFA demands users prove their identity through two or more factors from distinct categories:

• Something you know, like a password or PIN.According to NIST guidelines, MFA is most secure when it combines factors from different categories. A password paired with a hardware token or authenticator app offers far stronger protection than using multiple knowledge-based factors like passwords and security questions. However, MFA is not foolproof, as weaker implementations can be vulnerable to attacks like prompt bombing and SIM swapping.To enhance resilience against these threats, organizations should:
• Move away from legacy SMS or email-based one-time passcodes (OTPs), which are more susceptible to interception, phishing, and social engineering.Secure your Active Directory passwords with Specops Password Policy. Verizon’s Data Breach Investigation Report found that stolen credentials are involved in 44.7% of breaches.Effortlessly secure Active Directory with compliant password policies, blocking over 4 billion compromised passwords, boosting security, and reducing support hassles. Try it for free.2. Protect the service desk from social engineeringHelpdesks remain a prime target for social engineering attacks because they sit at the intersection of identity, access, and urgent user requests. Attackers impersonate employees to convince support staff to grant access to accounts, often through a reset request. These attacks are growing more sophisticated, with threat actors using AI-generated deepfake audio or publicly available information to make requests appear legitimate.In several high-profile breaches, including those at Marks and Spencer (M&S) and Clorox, service desk compromise was the initial step toward ransomware deployment or broader lateral movement. For M&S, the attack led to a five-day suspension of sales, with average daily losses of £3.8 million. The issue is rarely a lack of security tools, but rather inconsistent identity verification during high-pressure support interactions.Specialized solutions like Specops Secure Service Desk embed secure identity verification directly into helpdesk workflows, requiring users to verify their identity through trusted authentication methods before password resets, MFA changes, or other sensitive actions can be completed. This helps support teams handle requests securely and reduces the risk of attackers bypassing controls through social engineering.For especially high-risk actions at the service desk, Specops Verified ID adds government document scanning and biometric liveness detection to identity verification workflows. With this additional layer of defense, organizations can mitigate the risk of impersonation attacks leading to account takeover.3. Incorporate device trust into identity verification decisionsModern identity verification cannot rely on credentials alone. Alongside valid credentials, attackers steal session cookies and MFA tokens to break the authentication process, making it harder to distinguish legitimate users from compromised accounts based purely on login details. That is why more organizations are bringing device trust into authentication and access decisions.Device trust helps security teams verify not just who is logging in, but what device they are logging in from. Instead of treating every device equally, trusted access policies evaluate signals such as:
• Whether the device is corporate-managed or unmanagedThese signals add valuable context to identity verification workflows. For example, a login from a recognized, compliant device on a corporate network may require minimal friction. The same credentials used from an unmanaged device or suspicious IP range could trigger step-up authentication, restricted access, or a blocked session entirely.4. Consider using passkeysMFA significantly reduces the risk of compromised credentials, but many organizations are now looking beyond passwords altogether. One of the most widely adopted passwordless options is passkeys. Built on FIDO2 and WebAuthn standards, passkeys use public-key cryptography to authenticate users without transmitting passwords across the network. The private key stays securely stored on the user’s device, making passkeys resistant to phishing, credential theft, and password reuse attacks. Since there is no password to remember or rotate, they also help reduce friction for both employees and IT teams.That said, passkeys are not a complete replacement for passwords yet. Organizations still rely on passwords as fallback authentication methods, particularly during account recovery or when users switch devices. Because of this, strong password policies and phishing-resistant MFA still play an important role wherever passwords remain in use.5. Protect biometric dataBiometric authentication through fingerprint scans, facial recognition, or voice verification strengthens identity verification when implemented properly. But unlike passwords, biometric data cannot simply be reset if it is compromised, making its protection especially important.One of the most important best practices is to avoid storing raw biometric data wherever possible. Instead, organizations should store encrypted biometric templates and perform authentication locally on trusted devices when feasible. Privacy-preserving technologies are also becoming more widely used in high-security environments. Techniques such as homomorphic encryption allow biometric matching to take place without exposing the underlying biometric data itself, helping organizations reduce both security and privacy risks.Secure your identity verification workflows with SpecopsAs attackers continue to target credentials and exploit weaknesses in authentication workflows, reviewing and modernizing identity verification controls should remain a priority for security teams. If you are looking to strengthen your identity verification workflows, Specops is here to help. Contact us today or book a demo to see our solutions in action.Sponsored and written by Specops Software.