Authenticating contact identities

Groove automatically assigns a unique "digital fingerprint" to each identity. A digital fingerprint appears as a long, random looking string of letters and numbers (with punctuation marks for readability). These fingerprints are used for manually authenticating the real-world identities of Groove contacts you see in your workspaces and contact lists.

As a rule, ensuring the authentic identities of the people you use Groove with is strongly recommended so that you don't risk sharing sensitive information with unintended people.

Groove displays the authentication status of your Groove contacts in your contact lists and in the Workspace Members panel for any workspace. Names display in the following colors to indicate their authentication status:

Black: Not authenticated.
Green: Authenticated manually.
Teal: Authenticated by your organization.
Blue: Authenticated by your organization but outside your domain or cross-certified.
Red: Name conflict. If two contacts have similar names Groove displays them in red, regardless of their authentication status. See Resolving name conflicts for more information.

You can also sort names in the list under authentication categories. In a workspace member list, select View - View Members By - Authentication. In your contact list in the Launchbar, select Options - View Contacts By - Authentication.

Viewing the digital fingerprint for your own identity(s)

To see the digital fingerprint associated with any of your Groove identities:

Select Options - Preferences and select the Identities tab.
Select the identity you want from the drop-down menu.
Click More - Digital Fingerprint to display the Digital Fingerprint box.

Manually authenticating a contact

To manually authenticate a contact, do the following:

Right-click the contact (or workspace member) you want to authenticate and select Authenticate Contact....

Note: You can only authenticate Groove contacts. You cannot authenticate Jabber or email contacts.
Follow the steps in the Authenticate dialog box and check Authenticate As: when you are confident the contact is who they claim to be.
Optional. Change the contact name in the Authenticate As: text entry box.

You might change a contact name in order to distinguish it from another contact with the same or similar name. Or, you might want to simply use a name that helps you to recognize the contact. Only you see custom names in this field.
Click OK.

Note: If you do not want to be prompted to authenticate identities, select Turn off authentication prompt. Groove will display the Security Policies dialog box so you can modify security policies for your identity.