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UbID Recover

UbID Recover is the product domain for guarded identity and wallet recovery. It treats recovery as a high-assurance protocol rather than a convenient shortcut around normal security.

Recovery matters because self-managed identity must remain practical. Losing a device or authenticator should not permanently exclude a legitimate holder, but recovery must not give one administrator unrestricted power to assume the holder's identity.

What recovery may restore​

Recovery can address different problems, and those problems should not be treated as interchangeable:

  • access to an account or service;
  • access to an authorized device set;
  • wallet continuity;
  • protected credential custody;
  • control of a cryptographic identity;
  • reconstruction or re-provisioning of recovery material.

The required assurance depends on what is being restored. Recovering a low-risk session is different from restoring control of long-lived identity keys.

Guarded stages​

A secure recovery process separates stages so that evidence collection does not automatically become secret release or identity restoration.

A representative flow includes:

  1. Request — the holder or authorized process initiates recovery.
  2. Identity assurance — approved evidence is evaluated.
  3. Authorization — policy and required participants approve the next stage.
  4. Preparation — recovery material or state is prepared without being released.
  5. Release or reconstruction — protected material becomes usable only under the approved conditions.
  6. Restoration — access or identity continuity is re-established.
  7. Rotation and review — affected keys, devices, sessions, and credentials are re-evaluated.

Dry-run and preparation stages are valuable because they demonstrate readiness without automatically completing a sensitive release.

Distributed responsibility​

UbID Recover is designed to avoid a universal recovery secret held by one operator. Responsibility may be distributed across authorized participants, protected custodians, devices, or institutions.

The goal is not distribution for its own sake. It is to ensure that:

  • one compromised participant cannot unilaterally recover an identity;
  • no participant needs unrestricted access to the complete secret during normal operation;
  • release conditions are explicit and independently reviewable;
  • recovery evidence can show which participants and policies were involved.

Secure communication and evidence​

Recovery interactions may require identity-bound encrypted messaging between holders, guardians, custodians, or services. The system should preserve evidence of:

  • the request and declared purpose;
  • challenges and assurance results;
  • approvals and denials;
  • policy version;
  • authorized participants;
  • release or reconstruction outcome;
  • post-recovery rotation and revocation actions.

Sensitive recovery material should not appear in logs or operational dashboards.

Post-recovery security​

Recovery changes the trust state of an identity. A successful process should trigger controlled follow-up, which may include:

  • invalidating temporary authorizations;
  • reviewing registered devices;
  • revoking lost authenticators;
  • rotating affected cryptographic material;
  • reissuing or updating credentials where necessary;
  • notifying the holder through approved channels;
  • recording an evidence package for review.

Recovery is not complete simply because access has been restored.

Relationship with other products​

  • UbID Proof provides recovery assurance evidence.
  • UbID Access governs temporary access and post-recovery authentication.
  • UbID Wallet receives restored credentials and device state.
  • UbID Connect supports trusted recovery messaging.
  • UbID KeyVault protects institutional cryptographic operations used in recovery.
  • UbID Pulse monitors recovery posture and evidence.

What this product does not mean​

Recovery assistance does not mean that UbID or an institution owns the holder's identity or can move unrelated digital assets. Identity recovery, financial custody, and asset control are separate responsibilities and must remain separately governed.

Public documentation boundary​

Public documentation explains stages, distributed responsibility, evidence, and post-recovery controls. Participant thresholds, release conditions, secret-sharing parameters, internal routes, custodian configuration, and operational runbooks remain restricted.

See also Recovery and Continuity, Roles and Responsibilities, and UbID Wallet.