What is Verified Secure?

Verified Secure is a term that describes all the authentication methods that are available on the Verified Platform, which as of February 19th 2021 includes Norwegian BankID and Swedish BankID. These authentication methods are an additional security step during the document signing process, and they require the recipients to authenticate using a secure method (such as BankID) before accessing the documents sent via our platform.

How does it work?

During the process of creating an envelope, it can be decided if the recipients should be required to authenticate and use Verified Secure. This can be done in the following ways:

• in the Verified App - by choosing “Require authentication” when creating an envelope and adding a recipient

• in custom templates - each template can have its own logic and decide if and when authentication is required

• the Verified API - as exposed in our API documentation

Since the sender needs to make sure that the right person will access the documents, they will need to have the personal information of the recipients (e.g. in the case of BankID, they will need to know the SSN of the recipients).

Once the require authentication option has been enabled, when recipients will try to access the contents of the envelope they will be redirected to the Verified Secure page. There, they will need to authenticate using the method that was set for them by the sender.

If they manage to authenticate successfully they will proceed to see the documents, in order to sign or download them once they have been signed.

If they fail the authentication then they will be unable to access the documents.

Additional information:

• Verified Secure is an all or nothing option: if this option is enabled for one recipient, then it will be enforced for all the other recipients as there should not be any weak links in terms of security. This brings us to the next point:
• Silent parties will not be able to download the signed documents if Verified Secure is used: since there is no SSN - social security number - set for the silent party (they only have the email) they can not use Verified Secure to authenticate and as such they can not access the signed documents
• Authentication is required both for signing and downloading the signed documents: since Verified Secure is meant to prevent unauthorized access to the documents, this step will be required both before accessing the checkout (to sign the documents) and before being able to download the signed documents (via the email download link or the upcoming Recipient Portal)

 

What is Verified Secure 2.0?

All of this might sound familiar to some of you. That is because Verified Secure has been up and running for a long time. However, we now have an updated version being rolled out: Verified Secure 2.0

The goal behind this new version is to centralize all our authentication methods under one service, which will allow us to better manage, optimize and scale our offering.

 

What does this mean for regular users?

Most of the changes are under the hood, meaning regular users won’t notice anything new, apart from the usage statistics for authentication events updating faster than before (e.g. a maximum of 5 minutes for an authentication event to show up in the usage stats), and this updated loading screen when landing in Verified Secure 2.0.

What does this mean for API users?

The Verified API is the core of our platform, and backwards compatibility is one of our main goals, so the API for Verified Secure 2.0 will remain the same as before.

While these changes might feel a bit underwhelming, they do open the doors for us to provide more authentication methods, starting with:

 

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FTN Authentication

Release date: Feb 24, 2021

Finnish Trust Network is a combination of the Bank IDs and Mobiilivarmenne services, which can be used during the authentication process for Finnish citizens. This feature is available on-demand, as a certificate will need to be set up for each Verified account.

How can I enable FTN authentication for my account?

Simply leave a message to our support staff via email at support@verified.eu

Is this available for API users?

Yes, these methods are available via our API, and you can read more on our API documentation page.

How will this work?

After FTN authentication has been enabled for your account, these options will show up as additional authentication methods in the default flow and will also be available for use via templates or our API.

Once FTN authentication has been set for a recipient, they will come across one of these two screens before accessing the contents of the envelope:

 

 

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NemID authentication

Release date: May 10, 2021

NemID is an authentication solution available for Danish citizens. This feature is available on-demand, as a certificate will need to be set up for each Verified account.

How can I enable NemID authentication for my account?

Simply leave a message to our support staff via email at support@verified.eu

Is this available for API users?

Yes, this method is available via our API, and you can read more on our API documentation page.

How will this work?

After NemID authentication has been enabled for your account, this option will show up as additional authentication method in the default flow and will also be available for use via templates or our API.

Once NemID authentication has been set for a recipient, they will come across this screen before accessing the contents of the envelope:

NemID Authentication

 

 

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SMS authentication

Release date: May 18, 2021

SMS authentication is now available for everyone. This can be useful in situations where the recipients are from different countries with no support for eID

Is this available for API users?

Yes, this method is available via our API, and you can read more on our API documentation page.

How will this work?

SMS authentication will now show up as the Medium level of authentication in the default flow and will also be available for use via templates or our API. Setting this for a recipient will also require their phone number.

After the envelope has been sent, the recipient will come across the new SMS authorization app:

Pressing the button will send an SMS with an access code		Next, they will need to enter the access code received via SMS

 

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Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belgium eID support

Release date: Nov 01, 2021

More details available here.

 

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Passport reader

Release date: Dec 14, 2021

More details available here.

 

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Freja eID

Release date: Dec 14, 2021

Supports Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. More details available here.