Glossary

Authenticate

To give legal validity to, to render valid, to establish the validity of.

Authentication Agency

The government agency or agencies responsible for establishing the identity of the registering person and issuing that person with a credential to use when accessing services online. The authentication agency is not necessarily the same as the agency providing the service - the service agency.

Authorisation

Control of a person's access to an e-service or e-services.

Credential

A form of identification that can be used online which confirms you are who you say you are. Credentials are issued only after your identity has been authenticated in the registration process.

E-service(s)

A government service delivered electronically (i.e. over the Internet) to a person by a service agency. Only some e-services will require that a person will need to be appropriately authenticated.

Registration

The process of registering an identity of a person to be issued a credential to enable authentication for e-services.

Government Agency

A blanket term that includes departments, Crown entities, and any organisation within the State sector. Service agencies and Authentication Agency are government agencies.

Identity

A set of attributes, which together match to a person.

Identification

The process of associating identity data with a particular person.

Individual

A living person.

Opt-in

To choose to participate in something, such as an e-service.

Password

A word or phrase that only you know which can be used to gain access to some online government services. You will be able to get a password only when the authentication agency has established your identity.

Personal Information

Information about an identifiable individual.

Role

Different legal personas that a person can take on (e.g. individual, trustee, etc)

Service Agency

The Government agency responsible for delivering an e-service to a person.

Service-delivery information

Additional information (beyond a credential) required by a person so that they can access a specific e-service.

Service reference number

Customer number held by service agency (e.g. IRD number).

Verification

A step in the registration process, to confirm whether the person is who they claim to be.