The Identity Management Forum focuses on promoting effective, open standards-based identity management, which allows the right information on identity to reach the right people. The authentication of identities are essential requirements in information security solutions, and the efficient and secure management of identity information is a critical pre-requisite to enabling today's business demands for effective access control and provision management in their IT systems. In today's business operations, best practice on identity management is an expectation that is enforced by increasingly strong legal and regulatory requirements backed by IT audit, where penalties for non-compliance are severe.

What We Do
We are working to realize our vision by:

• Describing and promoting good practice for identity management architecture;
• · Participating in relevant standardization activities, particularly in ISO JTC1 SC27 and INCITS CS1; and
• · Encouraging product vendors to follow the standards.

Current Projects

Identity Management Standards Framework
We are working jointly with the US InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS CS1), which serves as the US Technical Advisory Group to ISO/IEC JTC1, and also under Category C Liaison status directly with ISO JTC1 SC27, to develop an International Standard Framework for Identity Management.

Common Core Identifiers
We are collaborating with INCITS CS1 and ISO JTC1 SC27 to submit our CCI work to ISO as the basis for promoting development of an International Standard for Common Core Identifiers

Data Privacy
We have submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1 our Manager's Guide to Data Privacy as a significant contribution to their work on developing an ISO Standard on a Framework for Data Privacy, and are collaborating with them and ITU-T to support development of their standard.

Key Accomplishments

Identity Management Architecture Guide (G072)
This Guide gives IT architects working in and for enterprises a sound conceptual understanding of the role of identity management and how to design for it, plus specific practical recommendations and advice.

Common Core Identifiers
The CCI project proposed a standard way of representing identities of people and things. It proposed a framework that allows for the grouping of related concepts of identity into useful categories, and a common format and structure for the representation of identifiers. This standardization aims to provide a reduction in complexity, leading to increased usage, and improved interoperability and reliability, with reduced costs. The project was a collaboration between The Open Group and the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and Network Applications Consortium (NAC).

Deliverables included:
+ CCI Business Scenario (K061)
+ CCI Framework Matrix (G071).
See also Core Identifier work group.

Identity Management White Paper

Business Scenarios
An Identity Management Business Scenario plus a comprehensive set of scenarios covering the Directory-Enabled Enterprise, Directory in the Key Management Infrastructure, Directories and Mobile Computing (the Executive on the Move).
Identity Management publications catalogue

LDAP Certified
Certification program for directory servers conforming to the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) version 3.
more

Identity Management Design Patterns
Design patterns help enterprise IT architects to apply proven solutions to known problems. We started a project to develop a library of identity management design patterns, intended as a valuable adjunct to the Identity Management Architecture Guide. As a result of changing circumstances, resources to complete this project became unavailable, so the unfinished project development achieved to that point is now archived, awaiting renewed interest in taking it up again.

Identity Management Implementation Catalog
The Implementation Catalog was intended to enable identity management product vendors to produce product descriptions in a standard format where their products could be compared on a like-for-like basis by prospective customers. A web infrastructure for this was created, complete with a Catalog Template and a design for a Web Viewer. Unfortunately insufficient major Identity Management product vendors were willing to submit their product details to this Catalog, so on grounds of quality and balance, this project was terminated. The existing project infrastructure was archived, so if renewed interest arises in future, the sound infrastructure achieved by this project can be exploited.

Liaisons
The Identity Management Forum has or is developing co-operative relationships and liaisons with many bodies active in identity management, including the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the US InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) ldapbis working group, the Liberty Alliance Project, the Organization for Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and the ISO/ITU X.500 group.

Publications
White Paper: Identity Management
Explores key concepts of identity management (trust, authentication, provisioning, authorization, and directories), places these concepts within their business, personal, and technical perspectives, and proposes a set of steps to be taken by The Open Group to serve as a change agent promoting the resolution of industry-wide impediments to interoperable identity management solutions.
more

Further reading
additional publications

More Information
For more information about the Identity Management Forum, please email