http://www.projectliberty.org All of the news that is published on the Liberty Alliance website is available through this feed. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_adds_sig Liberty Alliance today announced the launch of the public Liberty Alliance Human Resources and Education Special Interest Group (SIG). The goal of the group is to foster interoperability, security and user privacy across online identity-enabled solutions in the global education and human resources sectors. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/aetna_s_provider_portal_gets_kudos_for_id_security Liberty Alliance has recognized Aetna’s provider portal for its deployment of secure identity-based applications for the proper authentication of clinicians and staff accessing healthcare data. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/new_vendors_pass_liberty_alliance_saml_2_0_interoperability_testing Liberty Alliance, a global standards organization, initiated to enable open identity standards, business and deployment guidelines and best practices for managing privacy, has announced that, Identity products from CA; NTT Software; Ping Identity; RSA, The Security Division of EMC; and Ubisecure have all passed their Liberty Alliance SAML 2.0 interoperability testing. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/ca_joins_liberty_alliance_management_board Liberty Alliance, the global identity community working to build a more trustworthy Internet for businesses, governments and people worldwide, today announced that CA has become a member of the Liberty Alliance Management Board. CA joins Liberty Alliance board members from AOL, BT, France Telecom, Intel, Novell, NTT, Oracle and Sun Microsystems to help drive the strategic direction of Liberty Alliance on a global basis. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/making_customers_more_revealing When the UK market research company CCB FastMap asked consumers which method they most wanted companies to use when communicating with them – e-mail, phone, letter and so on – 63 per cent ticked the box that said “Not at all”. Even where consumers have an existing relationship with a company, 23 per cent prefer not to have marketing communications from it. The rate rises above 50 per cent for some large utilities and banks. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/winners_of_digital_id_world_s_iddy_awards This week I'm at Digital ID World which means I get to chat with folks I haven't seen in a while but it also means it's officially awards season. In a session worthy of the Daytime Emmys, the Liberty Alliance once again passed out its awards to "…identity-based applications built using Liberty Federation (including SAML 2.0), Liberty Web Services, Liberty People Service and Liberty Advanced Client specifications." Yes, it's time once again for the IDDY Awards! http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_issues_guidelines_for_standardized_identity_assurance_privacy_controls The Liberty Alliance today released the first versions of two key specifications aimed at taking some of the work and doubt out of federated identity schemes. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_releases_guidelines_for_data_management_handling The Liberty Alliance has released the first versions of two key frameworks for how businesses can share and protect sensitive data in their networks. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/holy_grail_of_ids It's not too far-fetched to call a federated identity management system the holy grail of authentication and access control. In its ideal form, it is intended to allow an end-user to login once – so-called single sign-on (SSO) – then access a multitude of resources, not just the servers and applications within an organization's perimeter, but those located outside the firewall, as well. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/anthony_doesburg_bringing_government_services_to_the_ipod_generation The next big development in e-government should make the iPod generation feel at home. Called igovt, it's a service that will allow us to log on to government websites and securely do all manner of transactions. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/group_offers_open_source_security_code_to_java_developers Open source identity community OpenLiberty.org Monday announced the release of open source code to help Java developers build privacy and security features into their Web 2.0, component-based and mobile applications. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/open_source_identity_scheme_takes_first_steps Concerned that the Web 2.0 craze is catching on faster than security can catch up, the OpenLiberty.org community has released an open source code library to write Web applications that protect users’ identities and increase security. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/bt_joins_liberty_alliance_board_to_promote_federated_identity_management Robert Temple, vice-president of security technologies at the BT Group Chief Technology Office, said, "BT is expanding its role in Liberty Alliance to help drive a secure and privacy-respecting internet identity layer across applications, industries and regions." http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_to_set_out_qualification_criteria_for_participating_in_federated_identity_networks Identity management is as much about process as it is about technology. The definition of identity assurance levels, and the procedures that are needed to satisfy each level, go a long way towards making it possible for organisations that want to provide identity services, or to use these services, to align their business processes and to formalise their interactions. The four security levels used by Liberty are based on current US government practice. The launch should help to put some political and business momentum behind the standards and reinforce Liberty's standing. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_unveils_improved_saml_certification Thanks to a new full-matrix interoperability testing methodology from The Drummond Group, HP, IBM, RSA, Sun Microsystems and Symlabs can claim full interoperability with each other and every other company that passes the Drummond tests is guaranteed to work with all of the previously certified vendors. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/saml_compliant_products_named The Liberty Alliance has certified the first set of products that meet the General Services Administration's profile for using the Security Access Markup Language. Agencies can use these products to participate in the GSA's E-Authentication Identity Federation. In October, the agency announced that products used in the initiative must pass Liberty Alliance interoperability testing. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/secret_identity_solving_the_privacy_puzzle_in_a_federated_model Governments face a dilemma. As more and more services move online, identifying and authenticating citizens in cyber-space are becoming more difficult. Citizens want one-stop service but they also want assurances their personal information is kept private. Sharing information across jurisdictions can create seamless service delivery, but government entities must ensure they are dealing with the same person. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_releases_federated_identity_framework The Liberty Alliance identity technology consortium has issued a draft framework that organizations could use to share identity information for electronic transactions. The Alliance’s Identity Assurance Expert Group developed the Liberty Identity Assurance Framework. The alliance is seeking feedback on the draft. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_touts_identity_assurance_framework The IAF is designed to simplify and speed the deployment of identity federations by standardising identity assurance levels and the certification process for all identity assurance service providers participating in federated relationships. Developed by members of the Liberty Alliance Identity Assurance Expert Group representing the financial services, government, healthcare, IT and telecoms sectors, the IAF is designed to meet cross-industry requirements for baseline identity assurance policy standards for all public and private sector federations. http://www.projectliberty.org/news_events/in_the_news/liberty_alliance_intros_iaf Liberty Alliance today announced the public release of the Liberty Identity Assurance Framework (IAF). The IAF has been developed by Liberty’s Identity Assurance Expert Group (IAEG) to simplify and speed the deployment of identity federations by standardizing identity assurance levels and the certification process for all identity assurance service providers participating in federated relationships. Liberty Alliance will hold a public webcast to review the Identity Assurance Framework on Thursday, November 29 at 8:00AM US PT.