While Twitter wants to sell its verification, Microsoft will do it for free on LinkedIn
- Reference: 1681467251
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/14/microsoft_linkedin_id_verify/
- Source link:
Later this month, Microsoft will let organizations use its [1]Verified ID tool to prove their workers' employment, with staff then being able to display that employment verification on their LinkedIn profiles.
Like the trust the unpaid-for blue check mark on Twitter once conveyed, the Verified ID on LinkedIn will show that the people on the business-focused network – which has about 900 million users – work at where they say they work.
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"By simply looking for a Verification, members and organizations can be more confident that the people they collaborate with are authentic and that work affiliations on their profiles are accurate," [3]wrote Joy Chik, president of identity and network access at Microsoft.
Enter Entra
Verified ID is a managed identify verification service that is part of Microsoft's [4]Entra product portfolio , an umbrella unit created last year that covers all of the vendor's identity and access capabilities. It's a tool in the company's larger push for a decentralized approach to digital identities.
"In our everyday lives, we use identity documents like driver's licenses or passports as convenient and secure ways to prove our identity," Chik wrote. "Until now, we have not had a good digital equivalent."
[5]Paid and legacy Twitter verification now indistinguishable
[6]Meta to add verification to Facebook and Insta under scheme that should avoid Twitter's Musk-stakes
[7]Attackers abuse Microsoft's 'verified publisher' status to steal data
[8]Microsoft's identity services huddle under Entra umbrella
Verified ID is built on open standards as a decentralized identity process in which an organization cryptographically signs a digital credential and issues it to an employee as a company ID. The employee can then use that with apps and websites, an approach that "represents a more secure, convenient, and trustworthy way to verify digital information at scale," she wrote.
That's how it will work with LinkedIn, which Microsoft bought in 2016 for $26.2 billion. Organizations with a subscription for Azure Active Directory – also part of Entra – can use Verified ID to create customized digital employee IDs that include the company's brand and business. Employees of those companies who have a digital ID and want to put it on their LinkedIn profile will have to send their credentials.
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Once that's in, the workplace verification is displayed on the profile, complete with a blue check mark (one that doesn't look like Twitter's) and a statement that the employee has verified they work for the company.
Microsoft is testing the LinkedIn process both internally and with more than 70 companies that include services firms Accenture and Avanade, with plans to roll it out at the end of the month.
Twitter goes in another direction
The LinkedIn program comes as Twitter's push to get users to pay for their blue check marks looms with an April 20 deadline. Under the new payment method, organizations will have to pay $1,000 a month for gold check marks while individuals must shell out $7 a month.
The New York Times and Politico both said they would not pay Twitter for check marks or reimburse employees if they choose to pay for theirs. The White House also said it wouldn't pay, and NPR has declined to use its accounts as well.
[11]
Musk last year paid $44 billion for a social media platform that reportedly is now worth less than half of that. However, he has been talking about making Twitter an "everything app" and is taking steps in that direction, from merging the biz with X Corp to allowing users to [12]trade stocks through eToro, a "social trading company."
Beyond employment verification, Microsoft sees Verified ID as being usable in myriad ways, from background checks and helping desk support to helping with hiring by being able to verify the prospect's identity and qualifications.
The need for decentralized IDs
The goal of such decentralized IDs is to allow a person's digital identity to follow them as they move through Microsoft's online world, similar to how an individual's driving license can be used to board an airplane or open a bank account.
"Until now, no digital identity could offer similar benefits," Microsoft wrote in a [13]white paper . "Whether for a popular social platform or a work account, a digital identity has always been controlled by the organization that issued it. As the digital sphere takes a foothold in every aspect of our lives, this needs to evolve."
A decentralized identity has an underlying network – called a "trust system" – that is based on either a blockchain or non-blockchain protocols, such as [14]DID:Web , which establishes trust based on a domain's existing reputation.
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"Regardless of the protocol, a Trust System is always available to you – no matter where you are or when you need access," the company wrote, adding that at the foundation of such a system are decentralized identifiers and verifiable certifications.
They "comprise a new digital identity that enables trust for users and protects their privacy across organizational boundaries. With their new digital identity, an individual can take ownership and control of their credentials, presenting these to websites, apps, and organizations to confirm their identity." ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/verifiable-credentials/decentralized-identifier-overview
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZDl4opI7Vk6jTLqyZQTkLAAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2023/04/12/linkedin-and-microsoft-entra-introduce-a-new-way-to-verify-your-workplace/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/31/entra/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/03/paid_and_legacy_twitter_verification/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/20/meta_to_charge_content_creators/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/01/microsoft_oauth_attack_proofpoint/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/31/entra/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDl4opI7Vk6jTLqyZQTkLAAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDl4opI7Vk6jTLqyZQTkLAAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDl4opI7Vk6jTLqyZQTkLAAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/twitter_users_can_now_trade/
[13] https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE5cxkr?culture=en-us&country=us
[14] https://github.com/w3c-ccg/did-method-web
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDl4opI7Vk6jTLqyZQTkLAAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Let me see now …
Are you serious? You are obviously NOT an employer. Or, if you are, you haven't a clue what you are talking about. These Blue ticks can be bought, you know, by anyone. Whether they work for you or not.
Love your expression "work for me" /S
UMMMMMM....
The same linkedin founded by the paypal mafia?! LMDAO
Re: UMMMMMM....
With LinkedIn, you don't find a job. The Job finds you.
Absolute opposite meaning
Even forgetting the notion of trusting a company with your identity that has no credible reputation for security. They don't even understand the meaning of decentralised, they are centralising your identity into their single system that identifies you everywhere. Nope, you can [explicit]
Nothing changes
> "Until now, we have not had a good digital equivalent."
And we still haven't.
This system only works for people who are employed. It is also a one-time verification, not knowing (or caring) when a verified person changes employer, starts working for themself or stops working altogether, or people who work for an outfit that has not sold its soul to Microsoft isn't part of their Entra scheme.
Microsoft sees Verified ID as being usable in myriad ways
by Microsoft no doubt, being able to identify and track you across the digital world. And what better way than by making it compulsory through your employer? Just another woeful step down the road to them getting to poke their noses into every aspect of your life and then monetise it in any way they dream up, privacy be damned in the name of the thirst for ever higher profits.
Not so much LinkedIn as LockedIn, for life, to their benevolent and glorious data harvesting ecosystem.
Re: Microsoft sees Verified ID as being usable in myriad ways
Yep. Unlike Passport.net and Windows Live ID, Microsoft Accounts are finally gaining traction because they started with corporates first and forced them into Windows (local accounts are getting more difficult to use especially for home versions) and XBox.
Obviously the next step is to have a 1:1 link from accounts to people in the real world, starting once again with corporates in the form of Linked In.
It's blindingly obvious what's happening, and yet somehow you've already been downvoted twice.
Re: Microsoft -- Just say NO to everything that they want you to do
You know it makes sense.
LinkedIn... I thought it had died
not long after MS bought it...
That was the day I deleted my account (or tried to.). I still get recruiters calling even though I last updated it in 2009.
Mind you my old Limited Company that I dissolved in 2007 is still doing the rounds on various lists.
To me, LinkedIn was never that much use. Even less these days.
Re: LinkedIn... I thought it had died
I only created an account when I was recruiting and wanted to see a bit more about what applicants were posting there (it was - or seemed - relevant, at the time)
From then on, numerous head hunters got in touch just to have me on their notebooks, as one or two who I chatted about it confirmed - they want options to present to their clients, the more, the better. It really doesn't matter to them if you're willing to go to interviews, once on their notebooks, they'll show their clients how large a roster they hold...
Race to dominance / monopoly
It's a race to the end of the rainbow for the pot of gold. The company that locks down digital identity will be as rich as MS for a mini eternity.
It is all about profit. Every kind word, every; this is how we help you/do for you - is all about harvesting you as a product to sell.
It seams all good and well, till you get locked out without recourse.
MS, I don't want your digital ID, because your entire infrastructure is an All eggs in one basket design. (all duct taped with powershell scripts and xml tables)
Microsoft will do it for free?
If it's free, you're the product.
Let me see now …
If, as a kudos-carrying employer, I hand out these check marks to my employees, it increases their attractiveness to recruiters, because no leg-work is needed to verify that thay work for me. Yes, that sounds like an attractive proposition.