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Enhancing Security and Privacy through PKI, Identity Management, and Federations

This paper discusses the importance of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Identity Management (IdM), and Identity Federations in managing access to resources while protecting privacy. It emphasizes the need for reliable digital credentials, appropriate access management, and efficient user experiences. The challenges of usability and standardization are addressed, highlighting that efficient adoption requires comprehensive standards, improved user interfaces, and enhanced education. The proposed solutions aim to streamline access and bolster security for campus communities and beyond.

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Enhancing Security and Privacy through PKI, Identity Management, and Federations

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  1. PKI, IdM, & Federations Triumvirate for Securitywith Privacy David L. Wasley net@edu 2006

  2. Outline • Why PKI • Why identity management • Why identity federations • Why am I saying this?

  3. What’s the problem? • We need to manage access to certain resources for our campus communities within & across organizations • We need to protect privacy • We need to do this with sufficient reliability • We need this to scale

  4. Why PKI • PKI supports reliable, trustworthy digital credentials • Issued by a trusted authority • Difficult to forge • Difficult to “share” if on a smart-chip device • Also supports • Document security, e.g. encryption • Document validation, e.g. digital signatures

  5. Why identity management • Appropriate access management can require different reliable information about individuals • What an organization needs to know about an individual is context specific • A rich set of information is hard to manage while maintaining policy and privacy

  6. Why identity federation • Separates the meaning of a credential from the identity associated with it • Allows authoritative source to assert up-to-date identity information about a user • Streamlines user experience across a wide variety of resources • Can protect privacy by releasing only what information is appropriate & allowed

  7. Triumvirate • Credential asserts binding between physical person and identity information • Identity Management ensures trustworthy information • Identity Federation supports privacy and appropriate access

  8. To Buy or Build PKI • Devil is in the details, e.g. - • Do you requiring broad distribution of a Trust Anchor? • Do you require flexibility and generality in your PKI? • Minimizing the need for inter-organization PKI trust can affect the build/buy choice • PKI “policy” is based on local business rules • Federation rules and, where needed, bilateral agreements define trust for IdP and SP

  9. What’s the real problem • We haven’t yet made it usable by the average person • We’ve insisted on a complex trust model • Slow adoption discourages vendors • and results in awkward workarounds • Some potential uses do not yet have complete standards

  10. What needs to be done • Every computer should be able to read any smart-chip device (at least of a given type) • Standards are needed (these are emerging) • Biometric PINs might be nice ... • Every O/S needs crypto API (this is happening) • User interfaces need much improvement • and users need better education and training • Functions need to be standardized • Federation technology needs to be used ...

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