Hello everyone
This is the running update from the Executive Director. Have questions or comments? Suggest some added information or edits? Contact Colin at kantarainitiative dot org.
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Welcome to this February 2021 posting of Director's Corner.
All around the world, as we come to terms with the virus and start to get ahead of it, we continue to strive towards life as it once was. February has seen great swings in weather - from unusually blizzard conditions in Texas to unusually warm temperatures in Europe. Whatever the weather, the beat goes on inside and around the Kantara community.
It was great to welcome Neustar as our most recent Trust Mark holder for a component service that conformed to Kantara's NIST 800-63-3 Class of Approval under Kantara's Identity Assurance Trust Framework. There are several more services under assessment as I write, so 2021 is set to be a pivotal year as Kantara's Trust Framework goes mainstream. Why now you might ask? I've asked myself the same question in recent months. In discussions with Assurance Director Ruth, Assurance Review Board Chair Leif, the main Board and regulars on the Identity Assurance Work Group calls, we have put it down to the 'perfect storm' that the current climate has created. So in no particular order...
And there you have it; the perfect storm that is evidenced by the steadily increasing adoption of Kantara's Trust Framework and in particular 800-63-3 (most cases at IAL2 and AAL2).
There's a sense of this phenomenon emerging in membership too. Please join me in welcoming new members Beruku Identity from the UK, and the Digital Identification Bureau from Papua New Guinea. Thanks to the continued support from renewing members Board Director Presidency holder IDEMIA, MIT Trust :: Data Consortium, Accredited Assessor KUMA, Accredited Assessor Seadot from Sweden, and Individual Contributors Janelle Allen, Lisa LeVasseur and Ross Foard. Thank you all! It's great to have you back!
Regular readers of this blog may recall my mention of the US Treasury's Financial Sector Policy Roundtable on February 9th. It was a great session (closed to most associations) where members Easy Dynamics, ForgeRock, IDEMIA, ID.me, Mastercard International and MIT Trust :: Data Consortium, together with myself representing Kantara, covered a range of topics across digital identity solutions, Trust Frameworks and certification, Digital Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and Blockchain, Risk and Fraud, and latest implementations. It was another great session where Kantara was referenced a number of times in the context of go-to best practice.
Speaking of events, the last week of February and into this first week of March, saw an onslaught of events that Kantara has been approached to speak or exhibit at. Keep an eye on Kantara's events page as the near-term ones get loaded. Included in them are
The All-Member-Ballot for the slate of four Directors-at-Large was successful, and they were fully engaged on the February Board call. Some have settled into the Board priority areas and I'll keep you updated on progress there.
There was so much more that went on in February that we can talk more about in March, but you have the highlights in this nutshell.
Stay safe, well and above all happy.
Kind regards,
Colin
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