Identity management heads for the cloud

Traditionally, the task of managing users' digital identities has involved maintaining an on-premise identity management system. The system enrolls users, manages information about their identities and keeps track of what resources they are authorized to access. It authenticates users by prompting them to provide credentials, such as a username and password or smart card.

Once that information is verified, the system authorizes the user to access certain resources in accordance with the user's identity and role in the organization.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, which established the personal identity verification (PIV) card as a standard federal employee credential, has spawned numerous identity management systems at federal agencies.

Although in-house systems are still the norm, agencies have begun to explore cloud-based identity management. The Federal Cloud Credential Exchange, the first major test of the cloud approach, focuses on citizen access to agency resources and aims to provide an authentication service that spans all agencies. It will let people use third-party credentials to access multiple federal resources online, thereby freeing agencies from maintaining their own systems for authenticating users.

Naomi Lefkovitz, senior privacy policy adviser at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said FCCX will help agencies avoid the expense of credentialing the same person multiple times, which also makes life easier for the user.

"Those are really the efficiencies — and the good customer experience — we are looking for," said Lefkovitz, who co-led the FCCX Tiger Team that identified the cloud system's requirements and technical architecture.

Cloud-based identity management could also be a boon for agencies that operate shared services and need to authenticate employees from multiple government organizations. The Interior Department, for example, issued a request for information earlier this year regarding a software-as-a-service (SaaS) identity management solution. The department's Interior Business Center, which provides human resources applications to some 40 agencies, would use the system to help its customers access those applications.

FCW