Background checks are used to verify that a person is who they claim to be. They can help ensure that someone in your network isn't an infiltrator, informant, or otherwise lying about their identity for malicious reasons.
Performing a background check on someone may involve:
- Contacting or meeting their friends or family to ask questions about them.
- Visiting their home or place of employment.
- Reviewing their identity or administrative documents (employment or rental history, criminal record, etc.)
We recommend two different approaches to background checks:
- The consensual, mutual approach: If you already trust someone to some degree but would like to trust them more, you can do a mutual background check, where each of you checks the other.
- The non-consensual approach: If you already have strong suspicions that someone is lying about their identity, you can do a background check on them without their consent to confirm your suspicions.
For more information on background checks, see Confidence, Courage, Connection, Trust.
Techniques addressed by this mitigation
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Infiltrators | Background checks can help ensure that someone in your network is not an infiltrator. |
| Informants | Background checks can help ensure that someone in your network is not an informant. |