2017: June

Greetings folks

I finished off my last Director's Corner as we were making final preparations for our mult-faceted engagements at the Cloud Identity Summit in Chicago. Suffice to say, and I'm sure supported by the Kantarians in attendance, 'we slammed' it.

For the small organization that we are, we punched well above our weight as we have at most events this year, using our scarce resources thoughtfully and innovatively to give organizations much bigger than us a serious run for their money. That is certainly helped by the many members who supported us in speaking at our pre-conference workshop, mentioning us in their own presentations, pointing folks to our booth and proudly wearing our buttons, stickers and badge banners to stand out from the crowd. And that we did! I had numerous (envious) comments from other consortia and observers, observing just how much of an impact we made.

We had presentations relating to UMA, IRM, Consent Receipt and our conformity assessment scheme with Trust Mark under the Identity Assurance Trust Framework. We had the launch of digital identity professionals as its own 'ID Pro' independent organization. We had an unscheduled but urgent intervention by President Allan between two Keynotes on the deep concern we should all share regarding 'screen scraping' in the latest PSD2 draft standard. Since then (and perhaps partly due to the global attention Kantara brought to the matter through its pledge of opposition) the European Banking Authority has also opined in our favor.   

We just want to see all that interest translate into paying members and corporate directed funds for our Working Groups' projects.  Whether you can direct, cajole, influence or just 'nudge', please be in no doubt - your help is appreciated.  All our works and specifications - be they published or in development - plus our pre-conference workshops - are available for brand association sponsorship or directed funds. Please Contact us for a marketing pack and pricing.  

Many of you will be reading this in conjunction with Kantara's quarterly newsletter that the Federation Interoperability Working Group's SAML V2.0 Implementation Profile for Federation Interoperability is out for public comment and IPR review period. It replaces the egov Working Group's SAML eGov profile from 2010. The deadline is 29th July 2017.  If you haven't already  provided feedback please do so!   And while your in Kantara-mode don't forget to take a look through the updated ByLaws .

The big news in the newsletter is this: "In light of its recent publication, Kantara intends to develop conformity assessment, approval and an additional Mark for NIST SP 800-63-3 for identity & credential service providers whose solutions are utilized by relying parties online. We hope to have it in operation in less than 12 months. We are also making it easier for operating Trust Frameworks all around the world to more easily map ‘theirs to ours’ by developing an open risk catalogue.  This multi-faceted project needs your help to truly succeed. It needs your organization’s sponsorship and directed funds and it needs the volunteer resources of subject matter experts - be they individuals such as you, or organizations you know or work for. Whether you are a Credential Service Provider looking for early adoption and transition, or a Relying Party looking to support the project to help move the industry forward, Contact us and be part of this new and exciting journey".  There's not much more to say at this moment in time, except to observe that it stands as yet another testament to Kantara's leadership in the industry and the identity community it serves. 

The first days of July saw no let-up for the non US Kantara team, as Board Director Robin and Leadership Council Chair Andrew joined me at EEMA, our premier European partner's conference in London where we presented on the changing nature of conformity assessment and how the emerging domain data ethics could play an increasing role. We wished our friends and colleagues Stateside all best in their Holiday, while we worked...  And the following week our 3 performers in our Federally funded KIPI Applied Research and Development program wowed the audience as they showcased their innovations in DC. 

Enjoy summer and get some rest. But if you are restless, there is more than enough to occupy you by volunteering your time across Kantara's Working Groups.  Just let us know.

Kind Regards,

Colin