Apr 15
We need to be sure that before any of the identity assurance framework suppliers begin providing services to departments, they are certified as being capable of delivering proof of identity as defined in the Government’s Good Practice Guides.
Mar 12
Identity Assurance is made up of many different areas of work, as you’d expect of a complex programme. Whether they’re focused on business processes, security, commercial models, government standards or anything else, they all share the common goal of producing results that are actually fit for purpose. And the only effective way to ensure that is to test – continually – with real people in real situations. This helps us to learn what works and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.
Jan 17
There’s been a fair amount of speculation as to who else would join the supplier framework for Identity Assurance. We are happy to confirm that the eighth successful supplier is PayPal.
As a founder member of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) which provides a structured conversation between the Cabinet Office on behalf of the UK Government and a market of providers committed to interoperability, PayPal adds their high profile and expertise in the online transacting space. They join the recently announced suppliers that includes The Post Office, Cassidian, Digidentity, Experian, Ingeus, Mydex, and Verizon.
Of course, this is just the beginning of the process. The real work of realising our ambitions for identity assurance services can now begin. We’re working closely with departments to develop an identity assurance process that can be adapted and reused right across government, benefiting users and and service providers alike with a simpler, faster, better and safer way to access and transact with government services.
Nov 14
Yesterday, with the announcement by DWP of the first Identity Provider (IdP) framework for government, the Identity Assurance Programme passed an important milestone in the development of a cross-government identity assurance platform. Read more
Oct 25
Local government is facing many challenges in providing digital services to citizens and a significant barrier to that is identity assurance.
In order to understand these challenges, GDS commissioned a small sample review. You can read the full report here. Read more
Oct 4
There’s a group of people here at GDS working on a programme called IDA – which stands for Identity Assurance. We’re helping develop a secure service that lets people log in to online government services more easily. Read more
On Tuesday, 12th June, Mike Bracken announced that the Cabinet Office will be joining the Open Identity Exchange (OIX). The Identity Assurance Programme team explain how this will enhance a process of collaboration and inform ongoing, small-scale, alpha projects.
May 29
Last week some members of the UK Identity Assurance team were invited to the White House to share, learn and collaborate with some of the key individuals and organisations in the US wrestling with the challenges of identity in cyberspace.
Chris Ferguson (Cabinet Office Deputy Director and UK Government lead on Identity Assurance) was invited to speak at the Colloquium on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) alongside luminaries from the identity world, officials and politicians such as Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cyber Security Coordinator, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Gene Sperling, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Jeremy Grant, Chris’s counterpart in the US who leads implementation of the NSTIC. Read more about the ID Assurance team’s visit to the US
As more and more government services are being provided online, it is becoming increasingly important to have a simple and user-friendly way for users to assert their identity in order to access these services. This access should be consistent across government, secure and able to preserve users’ privacy. A cross-Government approach to identity assurance took a major step towards market this week with the issue of an Invitation to Tender for one of the Government’s key digital services.
Today we’re publishing a series of Good Practice Guides (GPGs) for potential providers of identity assurance for government services. They can now be found on the Cabinet Office site.
Read more about the Good Practice Guides
