Mutual Call Identity Trust Using DIDs and Verified Phone Routing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Customers lack the ability to verify the identity of institution agents during phone calls, making them susceptible to fraudulent activities despite existing two-factor authentication systems, which only provide one-sided verification.

Innovation Solution

A system that establishes mutual trust between users and agents by authenticating users before calls, using decentralized identifiers (DIDs) on a blockchain, and ensuring agents are verified through secure sessions and call routing protocols.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If two-factor authentication or multifactor authentication systems are implemented, then customer authentication security is improved, but vulnerability to man-in-the-middle attacks and impersonation scams increases because one-sided authentication does not verify agent identity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecustomer authentication securityVSAvoidvulnerability to fraud

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent inverts the traditional authentication model by implementing mutual authentication where both the customer and agent must verify each other's identities. Instead of only the customer being authenticated by the system, the agent also undergoes authentication verification, creating a bidirectional trust relationship that prevents impersonation scams and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback mechanisms where authentication status information is provided to both parties during the call. The customer receives confirmation that the agent is verified, and the agent receives confirmation that the customer is authenticated, creating a closed-loop verification system that enhances security while reducing fraud vulnerability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Device complexity

If traditional one-way authentication systems are used, then system complexity is reduced, but customer confidence in agent authenticity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveauthentication system complexityVSAvoidagent identity verification

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary authentication service that facilitates mutual verification between customer and agent. This intermediary component manages the authentication protocols, verifies identities, and provides trust signals without requiring complex implementation details in the customer or agent systems, thereby maintaining relative simplicity while achieving reliable bidirectional verification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If mutual authentication is implemented, then security against fraudulent activities is improved, but authentication process time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity against fraudVSAvoidauthentication process time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary authentication actions by pre-verifying agent identities before calls and maintaining authentication states. This allows mutual authentication to occur more efficiently during the actual call, as the system has already performed initial verification steps, reducing the time penalty associated with implementing bidirectional authentication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Measurement precision

If sensitive information is collected for authentication, then authentication accuracy is improved, but user privacy exposure increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveauthentication accuracyVSAvoiduser privacy

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameters used for authentication by moving from collecting sensitive personal information to using verification tokens and authentication credentials. This parameter change maintains high authentication accuracy while significantly reducing privacy exposure, as the system verifies identities without requiring or storing sensitive personal data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS20260059045A1Systems and methods for establishing mutual party identity trust for call request handling

Publication Date: 2026.02.26 WELLS FARGO BANK NA

AI summary

Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for handling a call request. An example method includes receiving a logon request for a user account from a user device and performing an authentication routine to determine whether to authenticate the logon request. In an instance in which the logon request is successfully authenticated, the example method further includes establishing a secure session with the user device and receiving the call request from the user device. The example method further includes determining a verified internal phone number based on the call request and providing the verified internal phone number to the user device. The example method further includes updating a decentralized identifier (DID) document associated with a user DID to reflect the call request.