EDUCAUSE Joins Identity Management Federation: InCommon

[Valerie Vogel <vvogel () EDUCAUSE EDU>]

In case you did not receive the following announcement, we would like to
let the Security Discussion list know that EDUCAUSE has joined the
InCommon Federation. More information is available below.
Thank you,
Valerie

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACTS:
Rodney J. Petersen
Government Relations Officer and Director of Cybersecurity Initiative
EDUCAUSE rpetersen () educause edu
202-331-5368

Dean Woodbeck
InCommon Federation
woodbeck () internet2 edu
906-482-5014

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EDUCAUSE JOINS IDENTITY MANAGEMENT FEDERATION: INCOMMON
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November 4, 2009--EDUCAUSE, the association for information technology
in higher education, announced that it has joined the InCommon
Federation, the U.S. identity and access management federation.

In an identity federation like InCommon, participating identity
providers (such as colleges and universities) and resource providers
(like EDUCAUSE) agree on a set of shared policies, processes, and
technology standards. This greatly streamlines collaboration among
multiple organizations because federation members agree on these
policies and processes once, rather than each time they sign a contract
with a new partner.

The InCommon Federation eliminates the need for researchers, students,
and educators to maintain multiple passwords and usernames. Rather than
requiring individuals to create new accounts for every service they wish
to use, resource providers and educational institutions agree to use
individuals' institutional network account identifiers for access. This
improves privacy and security for both individuals and institutions. 

"The InCommon Federation is a community endeavor that represents the
future of how colleges and universities will enable trusted interactions
with each other, government agencies, and other organizations, such as
EDUCAUSE, in a digital world," stated Diana Oblinger, president and CEO
of EDUCAUSE. "EDUCAUSE members who are also members of the InCommon
Federation will be able to use their college- or university-issued
usernames and passwords to access a variety of EDUCAUSE online services
once the implementation is complete."

With EDUCAUSE as part of InCommon, individuals at colleges and
universities that are members of both groups will enjoy federated access
to a range of services and resources available through the EDUCAUSE
website. However, the importance of EDUCAUSE's joining InCommon extends
beyond the direct provision of EDUCAUSE services.

"The decision to join InCommon demonstrates, in a bold way, EDUCAUSE's
responsiveness to its members and its strong commitment to protect its
members' privacy," remarked Peter M. Siegel, CIO and vice provost for
informational and educational technology at the University of
California, Davis, and co-chair of the Higher Education Information
Security Council. "As the trusted leadership organization for higher
education IT broadly, EDUCAUSE is signaling to institutions of all sizes
and types--from small private colleges to large research
universities--the importance of building an identity and access
management infrastructure that can be leveraged through federations such
as InCommon. This strategic step exemplifies the important leadership
role that EDUCAUSE can play within the higher education community."
 
With nearly 17,500 active members at over 2,300 colleges, universities,
and related organizations nationwide, EDUCAUSE serves as one of the
largest collaborations of higher education IT professionals in the
world. InCommon now serves more than four million users at almost 200
institutions in the United States and demonstrates significant growth
each year.

"One of the primary goals of federations like InCommon is to allow
universities like Penn State to provide access to a wide range of
off-campus resources while still protecting the security and privacy of
their students, faculty, and staff," explained Kevin Morooney, CIO and
vice provost for information technology at Pennsylvania State University
and incoming chair of the InCommon Steering Committee. "EDUCAUSE is not
only simplifying access to online services for its members, it is also
taking a proactive step that will lead other colleges and universities
to strengthen their identity management practices and join the InCommon
Federation."

At its annual conference in Denver this week, EDUCAUSE will recognize
the field of federated identity management systems with the EDUCAUSE
Catalyst Award (http://www.educause.edu/179041). The award highlights
IT-based innovations and initiatives that provide groundbreaking
solutions to major challenges in higher education. For a quick overview
of federated identity management and its importance to teaching,
learning, and research, please see "The 7 Things You Should Know About
Federated Identity Management," a recent EDUCAUSE publication, at
http://tinyurl.com/yc9nxb8.

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ABOUT EDUCAUSE
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the foremost community of IT
leaders and professionals committed to advancing higher education.
EDUCAUSE programs and services are focused on analysis, advocacy,
community building, professionaldevelopment, and knowledge creation
because IT plays a transformative role in higher education. EDUCAUSE
supports those who lead, manage, and use informationtechnology through a
comprehensive range of resources and activities. For more information,
visit http://www.educause.edu.

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ABOUT INCOMMON
InCommon provides the U.S. higher education and research community with
the common framework for trustworthy shared management of access to
online resources. InCommon facilitates the development of a
community-based common trust fabric sufficient to enable participants to
make appropriate decisions about the release of identity information and
the control of access to protected online resources. InCommon is
intended to enable production-level end-user access to a wide variety of
protected resources. For more information, visit
http://www.incommon.org.