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Identification

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A “name”, or identity, is a set of information that distinguishes a specific entity from every other within a particular environment. In some environments, the “name” may just be a given name; in other environments, it will be a given name and a family name; in still others, it may include additional data such as a street address, or may be some other form entirely (for example, an employee number). In all cases, however, the identity depends upon the environment: the size and characteristics of the environment determine the amount of information required for uniqueness.

Identification is the claim of an identity. Each of two entities is involved in this process: the claimant claims an identity either explicitly or implicitly (“I am x”), and the verifier makes a corresponding claim with respect to the same identity (“The entity with whom I am dealing is X”, where X is either x or a mapping from xto some other namespace that is meaningful to the verifier). In order for the verifier to...

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© 2005 International Federation for Information Processing

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Adams, C. (2005). Identification. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23483-7_191

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