What is an online account?¶
id: "AI-001" title: "What is an online account?" subtitle: "Understand the basic record before drawing conclusions from it." slug: "ai-001-what-is-an-online-account" pathway: "Accounts and Identity" section: "Starting with an online account" card_type: "investigator-question" content_type: "spoken-script" risk_level: "standard" pathway_order: 1 status: "draft" owner: "IF Digital" version: "0.1" review_gate: "pending" review_mode: "ai-assisted" review_timebox_mins: 30 qa_gate: "pending" qa_count: 0 pipeline_ref: "PIPELINE_PRG_001" pipeline_version: "1.1" public_safe: true video_ready: true word_count: 265 estimated_reading_time_mins: 1.3 audiences: - "investigators" - "analysts" - "supervisors" - "fraud teams" - "compliance staff" tags: - "online accounts" - "account records" - "usernames" - "providers" - "identity" primary_source_notes: - "NIST SP 800-63-4" - "Official provider account and security documentation"
What is an online account?¶
Understand the basic record before drawing conclusions from it.
Script¶
What is an online account?
An online account is a record maintained by a service provider so that a user, organisation, device or software process can use a service.
It normally has an identifier.
That might be a username, email address, telephone number, customer number or an identifier created internally by the provider.
The account may also contain profile details, settings, permissions, payment information and recovery methods.
It can connect activity across different sessions, devices or services.
For example, one account might be used to sign in to email, cloud storage, video services and a mobile device.
That does not mean every account represents one verified person.
Some providers carry out identity checks.
Others allow an account to be created with little more than an email address or telephone number.
The details supplied may be genuine, false, outdated or borrowed from someone else.
An account is also different from a session.
The account is the provider’s continuing record.
A session is a period during which that account is accessed, often from a particular browser, application or device.
This distinction matters because several sessions may exist at the same time, and they may not all be controlled by the same person.
For an investigator, the account is an evidential object and a route to further records.
It may help connect registration information, access history, devices, communications, transactions and security events.
Describe it accurately.
You can say that activity was recorded against an account.
Do not automatically say that the named account holder carried it out.
That requires evidence linking the account activity to the relevant person.
Key takeaway
An online account is a provider-held record associated with access and activity; it is not automatically a verified identity or a single human user.
Related questions¶
- What information can an online account contain?
- Does an account identify a person?
- What is the difference between an account, profile and username?
Source notes¶
- NIST SP 800-63-4: Digital Identity Guidelines
- Microsoft Support: Recent sign-in activity for a Microsoft account
- Apple Support: Manage and use your Apple Account
- Apple Support: Check your Apple Account device list