Patent ID: 8631486

Claim:
A method for use in identity assurance, comprising: receiving at a determinator a user credential of a verification of a user identity; wherein the credential includes a stored description of an executed process of the verification method performed by a verifier to verify the user identity; using the credential by the determinator to determine a granular identity level of trust and a granular verification level of trust, wherein the granular identity level of trust describes an amount of risk associated with what was provided to verify the user identity by associating a granular identity trust level with the description of what was provided to verify the user identity and wherein the granular verification level of trust describes an amount of risk associated with what method was performed to verify the identity and by associating a verification trust level with the verification method performed to verify the identity, calculating, at the determinator, a granular level of trust based on the granular identity level and the granular verification level; determining, at the determinator, a trust threshold necessary for a user to perform an operation; and determining, at the determinator, whether to allow the user to perform the operation; wherein if the granular level of trust exceeds the trust threshold the operation is allowed; and storing, in a computer memory, a plurality of user transactions using the user identity associated with the credential; and based on the plurality of user transactions, enabling the determinator to modify the granular level of trust; wherein modification is based on modifying the granular level of trust of the user identification with levels of trust associated with each of the plurality of user transactions.