The dirty little secret of consumer identity and access management is that security and authentication isn’t the priority. These systems are about enabling the organization to get as much information about consumers as possible in order to get them to come back to the site and buy more products. This makes managing consumer identity information […]

Note from Editor Zack Martin: After a dozen years of covering the identity space, I am switching roles and am going to try and help solve some of the problems that exist. I am making the move from an observer to a player on the field, ready to get my hands dirty attempting to solve some of our digital identity woes.

As organizations start exploring more digital initiatives, including cloud and mobile, the importance of IAM is becoming paramount. Some 90% of IT professional agree that IAM is important to their digital success.

While the Defense Department ponders a futures without the Common Access Card — the ubiquitous smart card that has been used for more than a decade — other federal employees and industry representatives ponder what the future of identity might look like for federal employees.

HID Global announced that Honeywell Building Solutions has integrated HID technology into its Honeywell Vector Occupant App; FlexEnable will showcase a 500 dpi flexible fingerprint sensor in a smart card form factor at TRUSTECH; Salto created a new web site for the hospitality industry’s access control needs and requirements.

Many mobile devices come with the ability to enable some sort of biometric authentication baked in – a microphone for voice, a camera for face and even a fingerprint scanner. Visa wants to start enabling consumers to use these technologies instead of passwords to start paying for things.

Online identity vetting it difficult but some are using mobile devices to scan driver licenses to increase the security of the process. Knowledge-based authentication is what most companies fall back to, but the preponderance of breaches and some people’s lack of credit history makes it far from perfect.

Would you give up sex for a year if it meant you didn’t have to worry about being hacked, having your identity stolen, account breached or any other cybersecurity woes? Some 39% of those surveyed say they would, according to an online survey from Dashlane.

Matica Technologies announced its new standalone laser engraving card printer; ImageWare Systems introduced GoVerifyID Enterprise Suite; MediaConcepts has integrated its mobile application with SALTO; Kantara and the European Association for E-identity and Security executed a Memorandum of Understanding.

The fervor over blockchain is unprecedented in the identity market and there is skepticism whether or not it will have a long-term impact when alternatives already exist and are in use.