Trust-based verification system and method for scalable access control and cyber-security qualifications

A computer-implemented process of controlling access to a restricted resource by verifying qualifications in compliance with a regulatory security framework, the computer-based process comprising:

• receiving, with a computing system, a configuration package comprising:
• (i) a qualification set comprising a qualification requested of a candidate to gain access to the restricted resource,
• (ii) a threshold trust for the qualification that is to be established for the qualification to be considered verified,
• (iii) a plurality of different sources that could potentially provide information indicative of the qualification, and
• (iv) a different trust level to be assigned to each of the sources, wherein trust level establishes a degree to which the respective source is considered trustworthy;
• receiving, with the computing system, the information indicative of the qualification from a first source included in the plurality of different sources;
• generating, with the computing system, a data structure associated with the candidate comprising the information received from the first source;
• comparing, with the computing system, a first trust level assigned to the first source to the threshold trust associated with the qualification;
• responsive to a determination that the first trust level satisfies the trust threshold, modifying the data structure to flag the qualification as being verified without human intervention;
• and
• controlling access to the restricted resource based, at least in part, on the qualification being flagged in the data structure.