(Release Candidate DRAFT 1, 5/4/2015)
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Integration of External Identities into internal systems, either single Service Providers or institutional identity and access management systems, can afford multiple benefits, for example:
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A Relying Party is a network service that receives identity information from an Identity Provider. An Relying Party may be a Service Provider, an Identity Provider or both (in the case of “gateway” implementations).
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Characterizing External Identity Use Cases
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We leave such cases and the trust relationships that must exist between the Identity Provider and the Relying Party for future study.
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Trustworthiness of External Identities
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Does the institution trust the External Identity’s Attributes sufficiently to perform its own local “identity proofing” or “External Identity re-linking” against the asserted Attributes as part of an account recovery process?
If not, what additional user verification must the Institution manage locally for purposes of allowing future account recovery?
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Architectural Patterns for Integrating External Identities
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The invitation use case is in contrast to the “Just In Time” or “front-channel” provisioning model, where a system is configured to create an Internal Identity on-the-fly using the Identifier and identity Attributes provided in an authentication assertion. It also contrasts with “back end provisioning”, where provisioning is done out of band and is typically driven by independent business rules.
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Criteria for Evaluating Identity Providers
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Are there terms the External provider applies that are potentially in conflict with general campus policies?
Is there a cost to the user or the organization to leverage the IDs?
What 3rd party certifications or audits are available to confirm function of service?
API limitations (number of allowed authentication per unit time)
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Conclusion
Integration of External Identities into internal systems can afford multiple benefits. These benefits do not come without a cost, however: The trustworthiness and other aspects of External Identity Providers’ operations must be assessed, and the External Identity Provider’s technology must be integrated into the local system.