Identity management - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

IdM redirects here. It can also mean Middle-of-the-Road Italy

Middle-of-the-Road Italy

Middle-of-the-Road Italy was an Italian centrist political grouping founded in 2006 by Marco Follini, Senate member and former leader of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats , and Riccardo Conti, member of the Chamber of Deputies...

Identity management (or ID management, or simply IdM) is a broad administrative area that deals with identifying individuals in a system (such as a country, a network, or an organization) and controlling access to the resources in that system by placing restrictions on the established identities of the individuals.

Identity management is multidisciplinary and covers many dimensions, such as:

Technical – Employs identity management systems
Identity management systems
An identity management system refers to an information system, or to a set of technologies that can be used to support the management of identities.An identity management system:# Establishes the identity...

(identification, implementation, administration and termination of identities with access to information systems, buildings and data within an organization).
Legal – Deals with legislation for data protection.
Police – Deals with identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...

.
Social and humanity – Deals with issues such as privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...

.
Security – Manages elements such as access control.
Organizations – Hierarchies and divisions of access.

History

Identity management (IdM) is a term related to how humans are identified and authorized

Authorization

Authorization is the function of specifying access rights to resources, which is related to information security and computer security in general and to access control in particular. More formally, "to authorize" is to define access policy...

across computer network

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

s. It covers issues such as how users are given an identity, the protection of that identity, and the technologies supporting that protection (e.g., network protocols, digital certificates

Public key certificate

In cryptography, a public key certificate is an electronic document which uses a digital signature to bind a public key with an identity — information such as the name of a person or an organization, their address, and so forth...

, password

Password

A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource . The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access....

s, etc.).

Digital identity: Personal identifying information (PII) selectively exposed over a network. See OECD and NIST guidelines on protecting PII and the risk of identity theft

Identity theft

Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...

.

While the term management requires little explanation, the term identity is a more abstract concept that will always be difficult to define in a way that satisfies everyone. It is a concept that is fluid and contextual depending on a number of factors including culture.

Thus the term management is appended to "identity" to indicate that there is technological and best practice

Best practice

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark...

framework around a somewhat intractable philosophical concept. Digital identity

Digital identity

Digital identity is the aspect of digital technology that is concerned with the mediation of people's experience of their own identity and the identity of other people and things...

can be interpreted as the codification of identity names and attributes of a physical instance in a way that facilitates processing. In each organization there is normally a role or department that is responsible for managing the schema of digital identities of their staff and their own objects, these represented by object identities or object identifiers (OID).

The SAML protocol is a prominent means used to exchange identity information between two identity domains. Other examples are listed on the Website of this project.

Perspectives on IdM

In the real-world context of engineering online systems, identity management can involve three perspectives:

The pure identity paradigm: Creation, management and deletion of identities without regard to access or entitlements;
The user access (log-on) paradigm: For example: a smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

and its associated data used by a customer to log on to a service or services (a traditional view);
The service paradigm: A system that delivers personalized, role-based, online, on-demand, multimedia (content), presence-based services to users and their devices.

Pure identity paradigm

A general model of identity

Identity (philosophy)

In philosophy, identity, from , is the relation each thing bears just to itself. According to Leibniz's law two things sharing every attribute are not only similar, but are the same thing. The concept of sameness has given rise to the general concept of identity, as in personal identity and...

can be constructed from a small set of axiomatic principles, for example that all identities in a given abstract namespace

Namespace

In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....

are unique and distinctive, or that such identities bear a specific relationship to corresponding entities in the real world. An axiomatic model of this kind can be considered to express "pure identity" in the sense that the model is not constrained by the context in which it is applied. In general, an entity can have multiple identities, and each identity can consist of multiple attributes or identifiers, some of which are shared and some of which are unique within a given name space. The diagram below illustrates the conceptual relationship between identities and the entities they represent, as well as between identities and the attributes they consist of.

In most theoretical and all practical models of digital identity

Digital identity

Digital identity is the aspect of digital technology that is concerned with the mediation of people's experience of their own identity and the identity of other people and things...

, a given identity object consists of a finite set of properties

Property (philosophy)

In modern philosophy, logic, and mathematics a property is an attribute of an object; a red object is said to have the property of redness. The property may be considered a form of object in its own right, able to possess other properties. A property however differs from individual objects in that...

. These properties may be used to record information about the object, either for purposes external to the model itself or so as to assist the model operationally, for example in classification and retrieval. A "pure identity" model is strictly not concerned with the external semantics

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....

of these properties.

The most common departure from "pure identity" in practice occurs with properties intended to assure some aspect of identity, for example a digital signature

Digital signature

A digital signature or digital signature scheme is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender, and that it was not altered in transit...

or software token

Software token

A software token is a type of two-factor authentication security device that may be used to authorize the use of computer services. Software tokens are stored on a general-purpose electronic device such as a desktop computer, laptop, PDA, or mobile phone...

which the model may use internally to verify some aspect of the identity in satisfaction of an external purpose. To the extent that the model attempts to express these semantics internally, it is not a pure model.

Contrast this situation with properties which might be externally used for purposes of information security

Information security

Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....

such as managing access or entitlement, but which are simply stored and retrieved, in other words not treated specially by the model. The absence of external semantics within the model qualifies it as a "pure identity" model.

Identity management, then, can be defined as a set of operations on a given identity model, or as a set of capabilities with reference to it. In practice, identity management is often used to express how identity information is to be provisioned

Provisioning

In telecommunication, provisioning is the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide services to its users. In NS/EP telecommunications services, "provisioning" equates to "initiation" and includes altering the state of an existing priority service or capability.In a...

and reconciled

Reconciliation (accounting)

In accounting, reconciliation refers to a process that compares two sets of records to make sure they are in agreement...

between multiple identity models.

User access paradigm

User access requires each user to assume a unique "digital identity" across applications and networked infrastructures, which enables access controls to be assigned and evaluate against this identity. Technically, the use of a unique identity across all systems ease the monitoring and verification of potential unauthorized access, and allows the organization to keep tabs of excessive privileges granted to any individual within the company. From the user lifecycle perspective, user access can be tracked from new hire, suspension to termination of employee.

Service paradigm

In the service paradigm perspective, where organizations evolve their systems to the world of converged services, the scope of identity management becomes much larger, and its application more critical. The scope of identity management includes all the resources of the company deployed to deliver online services. These may include devices, network equipment, servers, portals, content, applications and/or products as well as a user's credentials, address books, preferences, entitlements and telephone numbers. See Service Delivery Platform

Service Delivery Platform

In telecommunications, the term Service Delivery Platform usually refers to a set of components that provide a services delivery architecture for a type of service...

and Directory service

Directory service

A directory service is the software system that stores, organizes and provides access to information in a directory. In software engineering, a directory is a map between names and values. It allows the lookup of values given a name, similar to a dictionary...

.

, many organizations face a major clean-up in their systems if they are to bring identity coherence into their influence. Such coherence has become a prerequisite for delivering unified services to very large numbers of users on demand — cheaply, with security and single-customer viewing facilities.

Emerging fundamental points

IdM provides significantly greater opportunities to online businesses beyond the process of authenticating and granting access to authorized users via cards, tokens and web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

access control
Access control
Access control refers to exerting control over who can interact with a resource. Often but not always, this involves an authority, who does the controlling. The resource can be a given building, group of buildings, or computer-based information system...

systems.
User-based IdM has started to evolve away from username/password
Password
A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource . The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access....

and web-access control systems toward those that embrace preferences, parental controls, entitlements, policy-based routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...

, presence and loyalty scheme
Loyalty program
Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially beneficial to the firm....

s.
IdM provides the focus to deal with system-wide data quality and integrity
Data integrity
Data Integrity in its broadest meaning refers to the trustworthiness of system resources over their entire life cycle. In more analytic terms, it is "the representational faithfulness of information to the true state of the object that the information represents, where representational faithfulness...

issues often encountered by fragmented databases and workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...

processes.
IdM embraces what the user actually gets in terms of products and services and how and when they acquire them. Therefore, IdM applies to the products and services of an organization, such as health, media, insurance, travel and government services. It is also applicable to means by which these products and services are provisioned and assigned to (or removed from) "entitled" users.
IdM can deliver single-customer views that include the presence and location of the customer, single products and services as well as single IT infrastructure and network views to the respective parties. Accordingly, IdM relates intrinsically to information engineering
Information engineering
Information engineering or information engineering methodology in software engineering is an approach to designing and developing information systems.-Overview:...

, security and privacy.
IdM covers the machinery (system infrastructure components) that delivers such services because a system may assign the service of a user to: a particular network technology, content title, usage right, media server, mail server, soft switch, voice mailbox, product catalog set, security domain, billing system, CRM
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...

, help desk
Help desk
A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers or similar products. Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a toll-free number, website and e-mail. There are also in-house help desks geared toward providing the same kind...

etc.
It is equally important for users to correctly identify and authenticate service providers as it is for service providers to identify and authenticate users. This aspect has largely been ignored during the early development of identity management, but will have to be taken seriously in the future.
Critical factors in IdM projects include consideration of the online services of an organization (what the users log on to) and how they are managed from an internal and customer self-care perspective.

Issues

The management of identity raises a certain number of issues, such as privacy

Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...

issues that may lead to the implementation of a surveillance

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

society , or risk related to the stealing of identity (identity theft

Identity theft

).

The advent of the social web

Social Web

The social Web is a set of social relations that link people through the World Wide Web. The Social web encompasses how websites and software are designed and developed in order to support and foster social interaction. These online social interactions form the basis of much online activity...

, and in particular the important development of online social networking services, for which the management of their identities of their members represent a core element of these systems, also create a certain number of risks related to the disclosure of personal information , and in particular in losing an individual's privacy .

Addressing the identity issues

First, it should be noted that people, and in particular the young people (15-25), are well aware of the risks towards eID enabled services . More specifically young people:

are often very knowledgeable about these systems (web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...

) that they use frequently and for a long time
have a high level of perception of risk associated to these tools

Addressing these different issues may be done only by legislation or via the use of technical systems, but have to combine the different dimensions such as:

legal. With the data protection legislation or human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

legislation .
technical. Using for instance with the use of Privacy enhancing technologies
Privacy enhancing technologies
Privacy enhancing technologies is a general term for a set of computer tools, applications and mechanisms which - when integrated in online services or applications, or when used in conjunction with such services or applications - allow online users to protect the privacy of their personally...

.
security. Including socio-psychological aspects (social engineering
Social engineering (security)
Social engineering is commonly understood to mean the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information...

).
police (i.e. Forensics
Forensics
Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...

).

Research

Research related to the management of identity covers a variety of disciplines (such as technology, social sciences, the humanities and the law ) and areas, and tries to investigate many different issues (technical, legal, societal, etc.).

European research

Within the Seventh Research Framework Programme of the European Union from 2007 to 2013, several new projects related to Identity Management started. PICOS investigates and develops a state-of-the-art platform for providing trust, privacy and identity management in mobile communities. On the backdrop of an increased risk to privacy of the citizen in the Information Society, PrimeLife will develop concepts and technologies to help individuals to protect their autonomy and retain control over personal information, irrespective of their activities. SWIFT focuses on extending identity functions and federation to the network while addressing usability and privacy concerns, and leverages identity technology as a key to integrate service and transport infrastructures for the benefit of users and the providers.

Other identity related projects from older European Union funded framework programs include:

FIDIS (Future of Identity in the Information Society)
GUIDE
PRIME.

Publications

Different academic journals can be used to publish articles related to identity management such as:

Less specialized journals may also publish on the topic, and for instance have special issue on Identity such as:

Online Information Review. See for instance the Special Issue on: Digital ID management (Volume 33, Issue 3, 2009).

Standardization

ISO (and more specifically ISO/IEC JTC1

ISO/IEC JTC1

ISO/IEC JTC 1 is Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission . It deals with all matters of information technology....

, SC27 IT Security techniques) is conducting some standardization work for identity management , such as the elaboration of a framework for identity management, including the definition of different identity related terms.

Implementation challenges

Getting all stakeholders to have a common view of area which is likely to come together and discuss the issues
Expectation to make the IdM a data synchronization engine for application data
Envisaging an appropriate business process
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...

leading to post-production challenges
Lack of leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...

and support from sponsors
Overlooking change management
Change management
Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at helping employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment....

— expecting everybody to go through the self-learning process
Lack of definition of the post-production phase in a project plan
Project plan
A project plan, according to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, isPRINCE2 defines:In some industries, particularly information technology, the term "project plan" can refer to a Gantt chart or other document that shows project activities along a timeline. While common, this use is inaccurate...

— for a smooth transition of the system to the end-user community, it becomes critical that an organization gears up for proper support through a transition phase or stabilization phase. This may take from three to six months.
Lack of focus on integration testing
Integration testing
Integration testing is the phase in software testing in which individual software modules are combined and tested as a group. It occurs after unit testing and before validation testing...
Lack of consistent architectural
Information Architecture
Information architecture is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems. Among these activities are library systems, Content Management Systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming,...

vision
Expectations for "over-automation"
Deploying too many IdM technologies in a short time period

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.