Every offer: identity verification
Check each candidate who receives an offer with a government ID, an NFC chip read where the document has one, and selfie liveness, aligned to NIST IAL2.
Workforce identity
Candidate and New-Hire Identity Verification with NIST IAL3
Confirm that the person you interview, hire and give access to is the same person: identity checks at the offer stage, and attended NIST IAL3 for privileged roles.
Why hiring needs identity proofing
A background check confirms that an identity has a clean record; it can’t tell you whether the person on the video call owns that identity.
The FBI warns that North Korean IT workers apply with stolen identities, pay U.S. facilitators to sit job interviews and verify fraudulent identities, and use AI face-swapping in video interviews. Its advice is identity verification during interviewing, onboarding and throughout employment. Our report on North Korean IT workers and laptop farms covers how these schemes work.
Know Your Employee (KYE) checks close that gap in steps: verify every candidate at the offer stage, and hold privileged roles to on-site attended NIST IAL3.
Match identity assurance to the role
NIST ties the identity assurance level to the harm a false identity could do, so most teams use two levels.
Privileged roles: NIST IAL3
Administrators, engineers with production access and cleared staff complete an on-site attended session on an IAL3 Kit at an approved office or home, or at an Office Kiosk. A trained agent attends every session.
Day one: a bound hardware key
The phishing-resistant hardware key is enrolled during the attended IAL3 session, so the person who was proofed is the person who holds the key.
After hire: re-verification
Re-verify at role changes, account recovery and risk signals, so access stays with the person you hired.
How it works
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Verify at the offer stage
Send the candidate a verification link with the offer. Trust Swiftly checks the ID and liveness and returns a decision and evidence to your HR system through the API and webhooks.
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Screen the verified identity
Run your background check against the identity you just verified, so the record and the person match.
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Schedule IAL3 for privileged roles
An IAL3 Kit ships to the new hire’s approved office or home, or they visit an Office Kiosk. Kits ship to all 50 states and 32+ countries.
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Attend the session
A trained proofing agent attends by video, the evidence is validated, a biometric is retained and the hardware key is enrolled. Sessions typically take 3 to 10 minutes once the kit or kiosk is in place.
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Keep it current
The signed evidence package reaches your IAM and HR systems, and re-verification runs at role changes, recovery and risk events.
Evidence for audits and assessors
Each IAL3 session produces a signed evidence package that supports FedRAMP High (Class D) identity proofing under IA-12, the persistent personnel verification FedRAMP proposes in RFC-0036 (KSI-IAM-MPI), and personnel screening for defense contractors under NIST SP 800-171 3.9.1. Assessors can request the IAL3 conformance mapping under NDA.
Frequently asked questions
Does every candidate need IAL3?
No. NIST ties the identity assurance level to the impact of the access (SP 800-63-4, Section 3.3). Most teams verify every candidate at the offer stage and reserve on-site attended IAL3 for privileged and high-risk roles.
Can the IAL3 session run on the new hire’s own laptop?
No. IAL3 is on-site attended on devices the provider controls. The new hire uses an IAL3 Kit shipped to an approved office or home, or an Office Kiosk, and a trained agent attends the session by video.
How long does an IAL3 session take?
Typically 3 to 10 minutes once the kit or kiosk is in place.
How does this help against North Korean IT worker schemes?
The FBI recommends identity verification during interviewing, onboarding and throughout employment. An attended session with a retained biometric and a bound hardware key makes it much harder for a paid stand-in to pass verification and hand over access.
Verify your next privileged hire
Tell us about the roles and locations involved, and we will scope an IAL3 pilot within one business day.