Understand issuer identity, the directory and additional proofs

Distinguish personal identities, organizations, society relationships, domain proofs and the issuer register.

The issuer is the person or organization standing behind the certificate. Its displayed identity and supporting evidence help a verifier decide whose statement they are reading. They do not replace the verifier's judgment about the qualification itself.

Different kinds of evidence

Email-confirmed individual: control of a personal account's confirmed email, not a claim to represent an institution.
Approved organization: the organizational issuing account has completed the applicable review.
Domain verification: control of the specified organization's domain has been demonstrated.
Faculty-advisor-confirmed society: a society's relationship is supported by its Campus confirmation workflow.
Official account or related group: read the stated relationship carefully; a department or society is not automatically the institution's central issuer.

Add supported personal proofs

The personal proof workflow supports a domain, GitHub profile or YouTube handle. It supplies a challenge to place in the required DNS record or public profile location. Follow the exact instructions in Proofs, then run the check. A domain hosted under a shared service is not always suitable as an independent domain proof.

An added website or social link is not verified merely because it appears in a profile. Complete the challenge and inspect its status. A supported trading name also does not turn an individual into a university, hospital or government body.

Use the issuer register

Open Issuers and search for the relevant issuer.
Open its profile and inspect the name, standing and available evidence.
Compare the issuer on the certificate's live record with that profile.
If a name or institutional relationship appears misleading, contact support with the public references and the discrepancy.

Directory presence and identity proofs are not academic accreditation or regulatory recognition. Use the exact displayed evidence rather than describing every issuer as equally verified.

Still stuck? A person will help.