Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[goin fishn]

No Passwords in the Cloud

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/03/rsa-identity-cloud-kantara.php


Patrick Harding of Ping Identity spoke about his company has learn about cloud computing in this session, "How the Cloud is Changing Federated Identity Requirements". A few of his observations:

•Software is no longer build vs. buy. It now includes subscribe, which by definition is a shorter term relationship.
•Cloud computing is an evolution of architecture. It arrives after Web services, which evolved from Web, client server, and mainframe.
•Complexity of the identity layer is harder than ever for the simple reason that there are more apps per user than ever before.
•Services are becoming any-to-any, where internal (employee) and external (customer) classifications don't matter nearly as much as before. Because of this firewalls are losing their usefulness.•Audit is no longer an afterthought. Auditors don't care how or where applications hosted, but hey do need their reports! This includes Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Gramm-Leach, Bliley, and more.
A core theme of this session was how the consumer mindset is driving requirements for application experience. Consumers expect it to work on any device, be secure, and be portable. To deliver on this, it must be easy to use. At the same time, password risk must be reduced.

A key trend that Harding pointed out is moving identity systems from "push" models into "pull" models. Instead of updating partners and directories by batch services, companies need to be building real-time identity resolution in applications.

We asked Harding if he had any predictions for where that type of service will come from. His response led us to the conclusion that the leader will be a brand and service that people trust and understand the motivations of. It will likely enter the market from a higher realm of credentials than Twitter or Facebook - perhaps from financial services.