One of our readers, Kafka, asked if had heard of SXIP. Great timing.

Last week I suggested that well provisioned identity would go a long way to solving both the access control (authentication) and transaction security. That’s not much of a stretch and there are several really good digital identity frameworks emerging. Which ones are your favorite?

Looking into the details of each, I become more convinced that we are missing a big step, provisioning. We become enamored with the technologies and the frameworks, but miss the whole point of “who says you are(not) a dog.”

We had quite a dustup last week as one of Microsoft’s key people mentioned that Longhorn is moving to two factor authentication. So what? Once you move beyond local logon and move outside your home and enterprise, it doesn’t matter how many forms of authentication you have. I only care if someone vouches for your identity.

Today, your bank plays that role with the major credit cards and most merchants effectively assume that risk by honoring them. To paraphrase the commentary CIO Magazine it’s reaching the point where either the consumer, the bank or the merchant will blink and then we have problems. Of course, if we had well provisioned identity nobody needs to blink.

So, back to my original point, what are your thoughts on the different established and emerging digital identity frameworks? What about provisioning frameworks? Has anybody heard from Identrus lately?

Digital ID Programs

xdi.org

sxip.org

Identrus.com