Take a moment and ask yourself: How many usernames and passwords do you have? Now consider how many times you’ve forgotten them and had to request a password reset. Of course, you may have been advised to use a password management tool, or to choose strong passwords, both of which are good advice. But protecting your online identity isn’t your responsibility alone. Everyone involved has a role to play. Over recent years, industry standards and best practices in Identity Management have emerged to help bring order to the identity chaos.
Your digital identity is the online information about who you are. It’s the data that lets online services uniquely identify an individual. Your identity typically includes data such as a user name, password, date of birth, account numbers or access codes, your group memberships and affiliations, and so on. This identity is what’s targeted in identity theft. If someone can steal your identity, they can do whatever you can do; so protecting it is of critical importance.
But identities, like the people they represent, have a complex life cycle. People change names, addresses, emails and employers. Students enter schools, transfer, graduate and become alumni. Bits of your identity are stored all over the place, and there is lots of duplication – multiple logins and multiple passwords. This confusion leads to privacy breaches and lack of access to online services.
The impact of all this is especially felt in the world of education. Online access has transformed the way we learn, teach and conduct research. The education sector has also led the way in the development of Identity Management systems that can better protect identity data. Some of the more exciting projects include the following collaborative activities, which OH-TECH and many Ohio institutions of Higher Education are participating in:
InCommon Federation: the U.S. education and research identity federation, providing a common framework for trusted shared management of access to on-line resources. Through InCommon, Identity Providers can give their users single sign-on convenience and privacy protection, while online Service Providers control access to their protected resources. Two-dozen Ohio education institutions are members of the InCommon Federation.
Eduroam: the secure, worldwide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community. Eduroam allows students, researchers and staff from participating institutions to obtain Internet connectivity across campus and when visiting other participating institutions by simply opening their laptops. Today over 20 Ohio education institutions are part of the eduroam network.
By participating in these and other activities, OH-TECH and Ohio’s higher ed community are playing an active role in helping keep user identities safe for students, educators and researchers across the state.
If you’re interested in more ways to keep yourself safe online, check out these tips on how to stay cyber secure. And for regular updates on protecting your online identity, follow OARnet’s social media platforms by liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter.
