Enterprise identity verification vendor

Persona

This document explains how to configure

Persona

, an identity verification (IDV) vendor, as an identity provider (IdP) for your org. You can configure

Persona

as an IdP in your org by creating an account with

Persona

, adding it as an IdP in Okta, and then testing the configuration.

Note:

Persona

works as an IDV vendor, but is listed as an IdP in the Admin Console. This guide refers to

Persona

as an IDV vendor.

---

Learning outcomes

Configure an IDV vendor so that your user’s identities are verified when they enroll a new authenticator.

Note: This guide describes the process for setting up an IDV flow in a sandbox environment of a

Persona

app. In a sandbox environment, there is no actual identity verification that verifies your user’s identities. You can use the same configuration process in a production environment in your

Persona

app.

What you need

• Okta Integrator Free Plan org (opens new window)
• An account with

  Persona (opens new window)

  with access to a sandbox environment
• A test user account (opens new window) that you can use to enroll an authenticator
• A test group (opens new window) in your org that the test user is added to

---

What is an IDV vendor

IDV vendors work like IdPs, with some key differences. Vendors verify your user’s identities by requiring them to submit a proof of identity. The proof of identity matches a user’s digital identity against a trusted data source. For example, a user’s first name and family name can be matched against a picture of their driver’s license or passport. The vendor verifies the user submission against a data source and that evaluation is sent back to Okta.

IdPs authenticate users by verifying their digital credentials. The IdPs also maintain the digital credentials.

Because of its stricter verification, you might only use an IDV vendor for sensitive operations. For example, use an IDV flow when a user enrolls a new authenticator or resets their password.

Create an app at the IDV vendor

At

Persona

(opens new window), create the client app to use for verifying your users.

Configure an IDV template

Create your

Persona

app and IDV flows. See How to set up Persona authentications for Okta Workforce Authentication (opens new window) to learn how to configure them.

Configure the client ID, client secret, and redirect URI of the

Persona

app

Note: An API key is no longer required for the

Persona

integration. Instead, generate a client ID and client secret in your

Persona

app and use them to authenticate the request to Okta.

Set your org URL as the redirect URI in your

Persona

app, and append /idp/identity-verification/callback. The redirect URI is the location where

Persona

sends the verification response.

• For example, if your Okta subdomain is called company, then the URL would be: https://company.okta.com/idp/identity-verification/callback. If you’ve configured a custom domain in your Okta org, use that value to construct your redirect URI, such as https://login.company.com/idp/identity-verification/callback.
• Include all base domains (Okta domain and custom domain) that your users interact with in the allowed redirect URI list.

Note: If you're migrating from the existing Persona IDV integration, see Migrating to the new Persona IDV integration (opens new window).

Other IDV vendor configuration

There are more settings for the

Persona

app that you can configure. The steps in this guide address the quickest route to set up

Persona

as an IDV vendor with Okta.

See the

Persona

documentation (opens new window) for more information about other configuration settings.

Create the IDV vendor in Okta

Use the IdP API (opens new window) to add Persona as an IDV vendor in Okta. Create your own POST request body or copy the example request and input your values.

Note: To add Persona using the Admin Console, see Add an Identity Verification vendor as Identity Provider (opens new window).

1. Set the following request body parameters:

   • Enter a value for name.
   • Set ID_PROOFING as the protocol type.
   • Set type to IDV_INTEGRATOR-7184229_PERSONAIDV_1.
   • Use the client ID and client secret from your previous section as the client_id and client_secret values.
   • Set the scopes array to include the profile, identity_assurance, and openid scopes.
     • profile: This scope allows the IDV vendor to request access to basic user profile information from Okta.
     • identity_assurance: This scope requests access to the verified_claims object so that the IDV vendor can send and receive information about the level of assurance of the IDV flow.
     • openid: This scope is required to make the request an OpenID Connect (OIDC) request.

2. Send the POST /api/v1/idps request.

3. After you create the IDV vendor, copy the value of id from the response body and paste it into a text editor. Use it in the next section.

Example request

{
    "type": "IDV_INTEGRATOR-7184229_PERSONAIDV_1",
    "name": "Persona IDV",
    "protocol": {
        "type": "ID_PROOFING",
        "scopes": [
            "profile",
            "identity_assurance",
            "openid"
        ],
        "credentials": {
            "client": {
                "client_id": "{PersonaClientId}",
                "client_secret": "{PersonaClientSecret}"
            }
        }
    },
    "policy": {
        "provisioning": {
            "action": "DISABLED",
            "profileMaster": false,
            "groups": null
        },
        "accountLink": {
            "filter": null,
            "action": "AUTO"
        },
        "subject": {
            "userNameTemplate": {
                "template": "source.userName"
            },
            "filter": null,
            "matchType": "USERNAME",
            "matchAttribute": null
        },
        "maxClockSkew": 0
    }
}

Example response

{
    "id": "{IDVId}",
    "name": "Persona IDV",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "created": "2024-11-15T15:22:17.000Z",
    "lastUpdated": "2024-11-15T15:22:17.000Z",
    "protocol": {
        "type": "ID_PROOFING",
        "scopes": [
            "profile",
            "identity_assurance",
            "openid"
        ],
        "endpoints": {
            "par": {
                "url": "https://authenticate.withpersona.com/authenticate/oidc/par",
                "binding": "HTTP-POST"
            },
            "authorization": {
                "url": "https://authenticate.withpersona.com/authenticate/oidc/authorize",
                "binding": "HTTP-REDIRECT"
            },
            "token": {
                "url": "https://authenticate.withpersona.com/authenticate/oidc/token",
                "binding": "HTTP-POST"
            },
            "jwks": {
                "url": "https://authenticate.withpersona.com/authenticate/oidc/jwks",
                "binding": "HTTP-REDIRECT"
            }
        },
        "issuer": {
            "url": "https://authenticate.withpersona.com/authenticate/oidc"
        },
        "credentials": {
            "client": {
                "client_id": "{PersonaClientId}",
                "client_secret": "{PersonaClientSecret}"
            }
        }
    },
    "policy": {
        "provisioning": {
            "action": "DISABLED",
            "profileMaster": false,
            "groups": null
        },
        "subject": {
            "userNameTemplate": {
                "template": "source.userName"
            },
            "filter": null,
            "matchType": "USERNAME",
            "matchAttribute": null
        },
        "maxClockSkew": 0
    },
    "properties": {
        "idvMetadata": {
            "vendorDisplayName": "Persona IDV",
            "termsOfUse": "https://withpersona.com/legal/terms-of-service",
            "privacyPolicy": "https://withpersona.com/legal/privacy-policy",
            "configUrl": "https://help.withpersona.com/articles/x7vPGY4te68wp1T0Ce5eFi/"
        }
    },
    "type": "IDV_INTEGRATOR-7184229_PERSONAIDV_1",
    "_links": {
        "users": {
            "href": "https://{yourOktadomain}/api/v1/idps/0oal68on4q8cch2y55d7/users",
            "hints": {
                "allow": [
                    "GET"
                ]
            }
        },
        "deactivate": {
            "href": "https://{yourOktadomain}/api/v1/idps/0oal68on4q8cch2y55d7/lifecycle/deactivate",
            "hints": {
                "allow": [
                    "POST"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Map profile attributes from Okta to your IDV vendor

After you've created the IDV vendor in Okta, you can map other profile attributes from your user directory to attributes in your IDV vendor. Okta sends the givenName and familyName attributes by default. You can map other attributes as needed. See Map profile attributes from Okta to an identity verification vendor (opens new window).

Create an Okta account management policy rule

Use the Policies API (opens new window) to create a rule that requires

Persona

to verify users when they enroll a new authenticator. Create your own POST request body or copy the example request and input your values.

Ensure that you’ve created a user account and group for that user. For example, add the user to a group called "Persona IDV test group".

Note: To add a rule using the Admin Console, see Edit the Okta account management policy (opens new window).

1. Retrieve the Okta account management policy ID. Use the Okta account management policy id as the policyId value in your POST request to create the IDV rule.

2. Set the following request body parameters for the new IDV rule that you want to create:

   • Provide a name value.
   • Use the Okta account management policy id as the policyId value.
   • Set the group ID. Use the List all groups call (opens new window) to find the id for the test group.
   • Set the verificationMethod type to ID_PROOFING.
   • Set the verificationMethod.id to the Okta Persona IdP that you created in the previous section.
   • Set appSignOn access value to ALLOW.
   • Use the following Okta Expression Language object:

       "elCondition": {
           "condition": "accessRequest.operation == 'enroll'"
       }
   

   This expression requires users to verify their identity with the IDV vendor when they enroll a new authenticator.

3. Send the POST /api/v1/policies/{policyId}/rules request.

Okta account management policy rule example request

{
    "name": "Require IDV for authenticator enrollment",
    "priority": 1,
    "type": "ACCESS_POLICY",
    "system": false,
    "conditions": {
        "people": {
            "groups": {
                "include":
                    ["{groupId}"]
            }
        },
        "network": {
            "connection": "ANYWHERE"
        },
        "riskScore": {
            "level": "ANY"
        },
        "elCondition": {
            "condition": "accessRequest.operation == 'enroll'"
        },
        "userType": {
            "include": [],
            "exclude": []
        }
    },
    "actions": {
        "appSignOn": {
            "access": "ALLOW",
            "verificationMethod": {
                "id": "{IDVId}",
                "type": "ID_PROOFING"
            }
        }
    }
}

Example response

{
    "id": "ruleId",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "name": "Require IDV for authenticator enrollment",
    "priority": 1,
    "created": "2024-11-14T21:16:55.000Z",
    "lastUpdated": "2024-11-14T21:16:55.000Z",
    "system": false,
    "conditions": {
        "people": {
            "users": {
                "exclude": []
            },
            "groups": {
                "include": [
                    {"groupId"}
                ]
            }
        },
        "network": {
            "connection": "ANYWHERE"
        },
        "riskScore": {
            "level": "ANY"
        },
        "elCondition": {
            "condition": "accessRequest.operation == 'enroll'"
        },
        "userType": {
            "include": [],
            "exclude": []
        }
    },
    "actions": {
        "appSignOn": {
            "access": "ALLOW",
            "verificationMethod": {
                "id": {"IDVId"},
                "type": "ID_PROOFING"
            }
        }
    },
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "https://{yourOktadomain}/api/v1/policies/rstjqw4t47yn9lXUK5d7/rules/rull5mrtqkAVfIyWT5d7",
            "hints": {
                "allow": [
                    "GET",
                    "PUT",
                    "DELETE"
                ]
            }
        },
        "deactivate": {
            "href": "https://{yourOktadomain}/api/v1/policies/rstjqw4t47yn9lXUK5d7/rules/rull5mrtqkAVfIyWT5d7/lifecycle/deactivate",
            "hints": {
                "allow": [
                    "POST"
                ]
            }
        }
    },
    "type": "ACCESS_POLICY"
}

Test the integration

You can test your integration by using the rule that you configured in the previous section.

1. Sign in to your org as the user that you created.
2. Click your username.
3. Go to My Settings.
4. Select Security Methods, and then set up a new authenticator.

If the IDV vendor is set up correctly, you’re prompted to verify your identity and redirected through the

Persona

IDV flow. Then, the user you created can successfully enroll an authenticator.

Note: Review the System Log (opens new window) if you encounter errors when testing the IDV flow. See Identity verification events for information about IDV events in the System Log.

Alternate use cases

You can use your IDV vendor to verify your user identities in different scenarios. Use the following Okta Expression Language expressions for different scenarios.

Note: You can use the Okta account management policy rule without any expression. If you don't use any expression in the rule then your user is prompted to verify their identity when at least one of the following events occurs:

• They enroll or unenroll authenticators.

• They edit their personal information in their Settings.

• They reset their password in Settings or in the Sign-in widget.

• They unlock their account.

Verify user identity only when they enroll an authenticator

accessRequest.operation == 'enroll'

Verify user identity only when they reset their password

accessRequest.authenticator.key == 'okta_password' && accessRequest.operation == 'recover'

Verify user identity only when they enroll phishing-resistant authenticators

{
  'okta_verify',
  'webauthn',
  'smart_card_idp',
  'yubikey_token'
}.contains(accessRequest.authenticator.key) &&
accessRequest.operation == 'enroll'

Troubleshooting

When you test the integration, if you’re not redirected to the IDV flow, review the following areas:

• Review the user and group that you created. Ensure that you’ve set the correct group ID when you create the Okta account management policy rule.

• Review the Okta account management policy rule. Ensure that you’ve added the correct Okta Expression Language expression and that the verificationMethod type is set to ID_PROOFING.

• Ensure that your user has the authenticators that they're allowed to enroll.