What is Verification?

Understanding Verification

Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that specified requirements regarding a product process or system have been met. Verification is the process of evaluating whether a system product or service complies with regulations specifications or imposed conditions. In security contexts verification focuses on confirming that security controls are implemented correctly operating as intended and meeting security requirements and specifications. Unlike validation which asks if we built the right thing verification asks if we built the thing right. Verification is defined in standards like NIST SP 800-53A ISO/IEC 27001 and various security assessment frameworks. Organizations implement verification through security control assessments testing inspection configuration validation and compliance checking. For example a government agency might verify its security controls by conducting formal control assessments examining system configurations to ensure hardening standards are applied testing that authentication mechanisms enforce defined password policies and inspecting system documentation to verify that security features are implemented according to requirements all before the system enters production. Related terms Validation Security control assessment Security testing Compliance Security requirements Security specifications Security configuration Audit Security implementation Security inspection.