Digital identity: solving the problem of trust

Abstract

The question of how we effectively and securely identify people online and enable them to perform digital tasks in a safe and secure manner is one of the fundamental issues of our time. The first challenge to overcome is that there are multiple definitions of what digital identity is. The market for identity solutions is also complex and fragmented, with many competing technologies being used to solve some of the problems facing our digital lives. Even NIST in its Digital Identity Guidelines struggles to pin down identity, stating that: “Without context, it is difficult to land on a single definition that satisfies all.”