Playbook

Help Desk Identity Verification Playbook

Define recovery checks, escalation rules, and practice calls for password resets and MFA changes without relying on caller familiarity.

Help DeskIdentitySocial Engineering

Help Desk Identity Verification Playbook visual for DefendArm Security guidance

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Make recovery a controlled process

Adapt this playbook to your identity provider and approved recovery policy. It does not prescribe a universal identity-proofing method or permission to collect identity documents.

Sample decisions

Is this an ordinary reset or a higher-impact factor or privileged-account recovery?
Which approved verification route works when the requester has lost every factor?
Who handles exceptions without letting urgency override the required checks?

Common mistakes

Trusting caller ID, a familiar voice, or an executive title as proof.
Sending a verification challenge to a newly supplied contact detail.
Recording authentication codes or identity documents in a general support ticket.

What is inside

Help Desk Identity Verification Playbook

Define recovery checks, escalation rules, and practice calls for password resets and MFA changes without relying on caller familiarity. Includes a fillable PDF with worked examples and decision records.

Fillable PDF. Reviewed 2026-09-21. Includes practical guidance and reusable review records.

Make recovery a controlled process: Adapt this playbook to your identity provider and approved recovery policy. It does not prescribe a universal identity-proofing method or permission to collect identity documents.
Practice the difficult calls: Fictional prompts for a supervised team exercise. Do not place deceptive calls to real employees without an approved exercise plan.
Recovery decision record: Record how the decision was reached without storing passwords, codes, or unnecessary personal documents.

References

NIST SP 800-63B-4: Authentication

Examples are fictional. Adapt these materials to your environment; completing a worksheet is not a certification.

Questions teams ask

Practical questions before you decide.

Who should use the Help Desk Identity Verification Playbook?

This resource is built for service desk leads, identity administrators, and security owners who need a clear way to turn security guidance into owners, evidence, and next actions.

What should a team prepare before using it?

Prepare current system owners, relevant policies, available logs or configuration evidence, and any known exceptions that affect the control area.

When should this turn into a deeper review?

Bring in the relevant specialist when the work exposes missing evidence, unclear authority, or controls your team cannot validate. Keep the unresolved issue, owner, and next decision recorded.