Parity rolls out free Information Card issuing service

10/13/08

One thing that's led to a slow uptake in the adoption of Information Card technology is the cost and complexity - or at least a perceived complexity - of Microsoft's CardSpace software. Oh, and the fact that it's not really available yet. Well, that's no longer the stumbling block as new kid on the block Parity has just released CardPress, the world's first service for issuing Information Cards. Not only is there now a service available to issue managed cards it's also free!

Why eliminate administrator rights?

10/08/08

In the 20-plus years I've spent consulting, hand-holding, troubleshooting and securing networks one of the most frequently asked questions I hear from business leaders is "How do I keep sensitive data from the prying eyes of the network administrators?" The answer has always been "trust." It was that way because we really had no way to remove administrative privileges from the administrators. But a new e-book by IT consultant Greg Shields promises to help. In fact, it's titled "Eliminating Administrator Rights" and is a part of Realtime Publishers' Essentials series. If you have a Windows network, this is essential for you.

The two-pronged attack to push Information Cards

10/06/08

Back in July I told you about the formation of the Information Card Foundation (see "The call for a new identity standard"). In announcing the new group, Executive Director Charles Andres was quick to point out that it would NOT be a standards body, and would not produce specifications. Rather, the organization was intended to advance the use of the Information Card metaphor. Let's consider that the first shoe dropping, shall we? The second dropped last week.

Oracle puts identity front and center at Oracle OpenWorld

10/01/08

Oracle had a very low-profile presence at Digital ID World, but not because it had nothing to talk about. Instead, it kept its press releases and official announcements for last week's Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, where identity was front and center.

Radiant Logic, SailPoint give their products an 'identity change'

09/29/08

Before completely leaving the events of the recent Digital ID World show there were a couple of announcements that I wanted to point out since they concerned identity and identity products on multiple levels. Two old friends of this newsletter, Radiant Logic and SailPoint, announced upgrades to their flagship products. They also announced what could be called an "identity change" for the products.

Two identity management papers worth reading

09/24/08

The days are growing shorter and the nights longer as we head into fall. Less time for outdoor play, more time to sit inside and cozy up by the fire with a libation and something to read. I can't provide the tipple, but I can point out some deserving reading material. No pot-boilers, I'm afraid, but a couple of recent white papers that are both educational as well as thought provoking. Not a bad combination.

Quest/NetPro: Two classy organizations are now one

09/22/08

I want to discuss the big merger/aquisition announcement last week between Quest and NetPro, but before getting to that, there's a bit of a clarification about the last issue. Joerg Resch, senior partner at German-based analyst firm Kuppinger Cole, punctured my bubble this past week when he pointed out that the "fun" in Fun Communications (mentioned in the last issue) wasn't necessarily a reference to the joie de vivre spirit of the organization, but was an acronym for the founders - Feulner and [in German, "und"] Nahr. Of course, just to show that the Germans do have a sense of humor, he titled the e-mail "It's always FUN to read your newsletter."

Sun working on Sun SPOT for personalization based on identity

09/17/08

While sitting in the airport waiting to come home after last week's Digital ID World, I ran into Sun's Pat Patterson, best known, to me, for aggregating lots of ID stuff at Planet Identity, and Mark Dixon, who heads up Sun's Project Destination. Mark was willing to share valuable information, such as attributing his weight loss to the Wii Fit, but he also wanted to tell us about something he'd recently seen in another Sun lab.

Putting the Fun in virtual loyalty cards

09/15/08

Towards the end of last week's Digital ID World show, as at most such gatherings, people greet you with "How're you doin'? Have you seen anything interesting?" Frequently the answer is no, there's just more of the same (and there was a lot of that at the event). But I did see something that got me a bit excited. But, oddly enough, I didn't see it "at" the show. It was - wonder of wonders - a press release that crossed my desk from Germany's engagingly named Fun Communications announcing the launch of its information card service.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant double standards, plus how to properly read the MQ

09/10/08

It never fails. Each year, at events like Digital ID World that's happening this week, I hear, privately, from a number of vendors - who don't wish to be quoted - about how superficial and meaningless are the Gartner Group's "Magic Quadrant" proclamations. I then get a press release from these same vendors trumpeting their placement in one quadrant or another.

Winners of Digital ID World's Iddy Awards

09/08/08

This week I'm at Digital ID World which means I get to chat with folks I haven't seen in a while but it also means it's officially awards season. In a session worthy of the Daytime Emmys, the Liberty Alliance once again passed out its awards to "…identity-based applications built using Liberty Federation (including SAML 2.0), Liberty Web Services, Liberty People Service and Liberty Advanced Client specifications." Yes, it's time once again for the Iddy Awards!

Digital ID World is no cartoon stuff

09/03/08

Digital ID World takes place in Anaheim next week and it's sure to be, once again, a hot bed of discussion about identity topics. While I hope all the attendees will try to fight their way into the two sessions I'll be doing, there's also a lot of other stuff going on that should whet your appetite for learning.

The nitty-gritty of information cards and OpenID interoperability

09/01/08

Sometimes an idea occurs simply because it's time for it to occur. It occurs to multiple people in multiple places at, roughly, the same time. Often those ideas, brilliant though they may be in their own right, are simply the extension of the ideas of others - a synthesis of many thoughts to arrive at a new conclusion. That appears to be happening in identity right now. The last two issues have talked about the grand unified theory of so-called "enterprise-centric" and "user-centric" identity. Now comes a paper talking about the interoperability of the two major user-centric models: information cards and OpenID.

Why there's no 'user-centric' or 'enterprise-centric' identity

08/27/08

Last issue, we examined the difference between what are termed "user-centric" and "enterprise-centric" identity management schemes. Enterprise-centric identity management, we postulated, is really all about tying together all the activities and attributes of a single entity into a readily accessible (and reportable and auditable) form; while user-centric identity is about keeping various parts of your online life totally separated so that they aren't accessible and no report can be drawn. I ended the newsletter by asking if there was a way to unify these two seemingly disparate objectives. And I believe there is.

The difference between user-centric and enterprise-centric identity, explained

08/25/08

I'm sometimes asked why there's a division between so-called "user-centric" identity and "enterprise-centric" identity. And as it's true that both approaches have a lot in common, I've struggled a bit to find the definitive differentiator, but I think a couple of friends have given me the pointers I need.

Validation, authorization: The next steps to identity management

08/20/08

As someone pointed out to me last week, we're still spending an inordinate amount of time talking about authentication, and still trying to find a way to obviate the need for users to either memorize or write down lists of passwords and account names. Certainly that issue has come up in this newsletter a number of times over the past few weeks and months.

Provisioning/deprovisioning problematic for a third of organizations

08/18/08

Every time we think we've finally gotten a handle on the user provisioning/deprovisioning issue something comes along to disabuse us of that notion. In this case it's the results of a survey of attendees at last spring's Directory Experts Conference (DEC) put on by NetPro.

One security implementer shares his single sign-on best practices

08/13/08

At the recent SSO Summit I moderated a panel of single sign-on implementers. One of them, Christopher Paidhrin HIPAA & IT security officer for ACS Healthcare Solutions, was kind enough to let me share with you his "best practices" list which he calls: "To Do & Not To Do: SSO implementation lessons learned."

Microsoft's Zermatt aims to ease development of claims-based identity apps

08/11/08

Last week's issue on so-called user-centric identity technologies in the enterprise ("Where do OpenID and InfoCards fit?") reminded me that there was a Microsoft announcement in early July that I should have written about but hadn't as yet. So today we'll correct that oversight.

Where do OpenID and InfoCards fit?

08/06/08

As I was saying last issue, one of the more interesting sessions I attended at the recent "first annual SSO Summit" was an open space presentation (i.e., the dozen or so attendees all participated led by our discussion leader, Ping Identity's CTO, Patrick Harding) called "Where do OpenID and InfoCards fit?"

The first annual SSO Summit

08/04/08

I recently attended the first annual SSO Summit at the Keystone resort near Denver and I was very much impressed by the level of discussion that took place. The attendance was small (a little over 100 attendees), but most were security and/or IT managers, execs and implementers from fairly large organizations. And all were willing to share their own experiences, and their questions, about the right path to take and the right reasons to take it for reducing the number of authentication points a user needed to see during the course of the business day.

Fingerprint biometrics bring 360 degrees of navigation to cell phones

07/30/08

Last week's newsletter about Upek's fingerprint reader with built in single sign-on (SSO) properties was written just a day before another big announcement in the biometric/fingerprint space, one which was just as interesting - at least to me - because it highlights another area I believe fingerprint biometrics are crucial - cell phones.

Oracle finds success in the identity sphere

07/28/08

There was big news out of Oracle last week. Not the announcement of Oracle Access Management Suite (relatively big news), but a personnel change that speaks volumes for the success that Oracle has had in the identity sphere.

The time may finally be right for biometrics

07/23/08

I've been following biometrics and, specifically, fingerprint technology for a past 10-12 years. Each time I think it's about to take off, the sizzle turns to a fizzle once again. But now the time might be right. Not that biometrics are any more acceptable (even though they are), nor that the accuracy has improved (even though it has), but because the right application has come along.

The Texas whirlwind is back

07/21/08

She's ba-a-ck. The woman a called a "Texas whirlwind," the ebullient, peripatetic, indefatigable Sara Gates is back in the saddle.

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Dave Kearns is a consultant and editor of IdM, the Journal of Identity Management.