digital identity

For my first post on our joined blog i would like to introduce the 'i' in our blog-name: Identity.

I will write about a book that bares the same title as this blogpost, Digital Idenitity, that's all about...you guessed it, digital idenitity!
Although this book is 'old' in IT-terms (2005) ,I still recon this book is a very good introduction to some of the concepts and terms used by the people working with IAM.

The writer of this book, Phil Windley, compares some of the company CIO's and CTO's too medieval rulers, concerned only with the risks they adopted a siege mentality with building walls to keep attackers out, making a secure perimeter but hampering the commerce. Fortunately, some corporations are beginning to rethink how they provide security, so that interactions with customers, employees, partners, and suppliers will be richer and more flexible.

He also details an important concept known as "identity management architecture" (IMA): a method to provide ample protection while giving good guys access to vital information and systems. To refrase this, he also uses the same medieval comparisons (he does this throughout his book by the way). IMA is good city planning: Cities define uses and design standards to ensure that buildings and city services are consistent and workable. Within that context, individual buildings-or system architectures-function as part of the overall plan.

In a nutshell this book shows that security planning can be used to support business goals and opportunities, rather than holding them at bay.