Solving the Identity Problem - Gov Experts Share Pearls of Wisdom
Why is identity such a complex problem to solve? That was the first question posed by moderator Nico Popp, Vice President of Information and Identity Protection with Symantec during a panel session on identity overload at the 2015 Symantec Government Symposium in Washington, D.C.
To better understand the identity problem, Popp suggests we think of identity as a triangle.
First, there is security.
Second, there’s cost. We spend $30 billion in the U.S. alone managing passwords. Even more worrying is that password reset is still the number one call into IT. This is before you get into governance, role management, permissions, and so on.
The third dimension is the user experience. People want ease-of-use. They’ll never trade convenience for security. No one wants to have to enter a code into their phone each time they use it. It just isn’t going to happen.
Here are some additional pearls of wisdom about identity management from the session and authentication in particular:
You Don’t Always Need Strong Authentication
A recent FISMA report shows that the federal government remains weak on user authentication. So how do we go from weak authentication to strong authentication?
One of the big misnomers to avoid is that we always need strong authentication, said Michael Garcia, Deputy Director, National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, National Institute of Standards and Technology. “It’s about figuring out when the risk profile matches the strength of the authentication…so figure out what you need and associate that risk profile with the strength of the transaction.”
It’s an interesting premise and one that would help overcome the need to issue relatively expensive strong authentication credential tokens to everyone.
But over at Department of Defense (DoD), the stance is a little different Deb Gallagher, a Defense Manpower Data Center Special Advisor with the DoD, explained: “We use PKI and smart cards because so many of our transactions are important and we want to protect them. I agree it’s not always absolutely necessary all the time but for most government applications…it’s important to know who is accessing information.”
The bottom line is – choose wisely.
What’s Changing the Game in Terms of Authentication?
Is it biometrics? Is it iris scanners? Is it behavioral stuff like cadence of typing? All these new innovations could play a role, says Garcia. The question is “how do we meet the risk profile and how do we get up to the required level of security?” Regardless of the device or process that you use to authenticate the user, it’s the end result that matters, you have to get up to that required level of security.
Garcia also added that the measurement science isn’t in place yet to gauge the effectiveness of rapidly emerging technologies like iris scanners. “The math is really hard to figure out…how much more do you get by adding this additional question or this additional factor? There’s overlap, it’s just hard to figure out.”
The Consumer has a Choice
Coming back to the third dimension of the identity triangle – user experience – Michael Garcia stressed the importance of choice.
The consumer should be able to get the credentials they prefer, whether they are issued by commercial identity providers or by the government, said Garcia.
“If the consumer wants a government credential they ought to be able to get one, if they want a commercial credential they ought to be able to get one,” said Garcia. “If they’d like to use 40 different credentials like they do today, good for them.”
“The point is we should be enabling an ecosystem that allows for that, and that’s the point of our program …we work as a public/private partnership to establish the rules of the road and establish strong credentials,” continued Garcia.
Learn More
To learn more about identity management challenges, innovations and cross-agency initiatives that should simplify this complex arena in the coming years, listen to the on-demand podcast.
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