Microsoft Capability
Microsoft has a solution developed for identity management called CardSpace.
Web site users face a set of common problems including determining the legitimacy of sites. The traditional method for users to identify themselves to a Web site - password authentication - has a number of well-known flaws.
Windows CardSpace is client software that enables users to provide their digital identity to online services in a simple, secure and trusted way.
Each card has some identity data associated with it - though this data is not actually stored in the card - that has either been given to the user by an identity provider such as bank, employer, or government, or created by the users themselves.
Information cards are virtual representations of a person's identity that are assured by a particular party. Information cards are analogous to real-world identity cards such as passports, driver's licenses, credit cards and employee ID cards.
Information cards are managed on client computers by a software component called an identity selector. An identity selector is a user interface (UI) that appears when a user attempts to authenticate to a Web site that requests an information card.
Advantage of information cards
- Information cards are more flexible than simple users names and passwords;
- Information cards employ strong cryptography, which makes their use more secure than passwords;
- Information cards can potentially present any type of identity claim that makes sense to all of the interacting parties and which users are willing to release.