New Combined Digital Identity Consortia is the First National - Global Collaborative Tasked with Improving the Trustworthy Use of Identity and Personal Data
WAKEFIELD, Mass., USA - June 25, 2018 - Kantara Initiative and the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) jointly announced today that Kantara will take on the work artifacts, current workstreams, committees and membership of the IDESG*. An official signing ceremony between the organizations was held during the opening of the Identiverse Summit in Boston, MA yesterday.
This amalgamation will create the world's first national - global consolidation of its kind in the digital identity industry. The mission of the expanded Kantara Initiative continues to be focused on improving trustworthy use of identity and personal data through innovation, standardization and good practice.
"Welcoming IDESG to Kantara is a logical next step as the organizations share a very similar ethos, mission, vision and artefacts," said Colin Wallis, executive director, Kantara Initiative. "Kantara's inclusion of IDESG's valuable assets creates a stronger return on investment made to date by NIST and our working members, at a time when the value of compliance has renewed focus in both the US and internationally especially with the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe."
The work of IDSEG will continue and be operated by the Kantara Initiative with the IDESG brand retained for selected US facing activities. All IDESG members in good standing will automatically become members of Kantara Initiative through to their anniversary with full access to Kantara resources, workgroups and technical materials. A representative of the IDESG membership (that has transitioned to Kantara) will join Kantara's Board of Directors through December 2019 to assist with the settling-in period.
Kantara was the first external entity to sign a Liaison Agreement back in 2013 with the newly formed IDESG organization. Today's announcement demonstrates longstanding commonality in vision as noted back in January of this year with the announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations to drive further adoption of IDESG's Trust Framework by Kantara's existing service providers that have been granted a Trust Mark under Kantara's Trust Framework.
Incorporated in 2012, IDESG is a voluntary, public-private partnership dedicated to developing an Identity Ecosystem Framework (IDEF) and services to better secure online digital identity. After the transition of assets is complete, IDSEG will be dissolved by the end of 2018.
"IDESG, through the focused dedication of our committees and leadership, has done a great job creating comprehensive identity rules of the road as well as the vehicle to showcase organizations that proactively play by those rules. This transition is the critical next step for us as we need to take the message to the street and drive the adoption of these great assets in order to achieve the results envisioned when IDESG was formed," said Mark DiFraia, president IDESG. "We will continue executing IDESG's mission of growing a healthy and secure online identity ecosystem that is secure/resilient, privacy-enhancing, cost effective/easy to use and interoperable under the leadership, experience, resources and talent of Kantara."
About Kantara Initiative
Kantara Initiative is an ethics based, mission-led non-profit organization passionate about giving control of data back to people. It provides real-world innovation and development of specifications and conformity assessment programs for the digital identity and personal data ecosystems. Beyond its flagship eID-assisting Identity Assurance Trust Framework, developing initiatives including Identity Relationship Management, User Managed Access (EIC Award Winner for Innovation in Information Security 2014), Identities of Things, and the Consent Receipt, Kantara Initiative connects a global, open, and transparent leadership community, including CA Technologies, digi.me, Experian, ForgeRock, Internet Society, Nomura Research Institute, and SecureKey Technologies. More information is available at https://kantarainitiative.org/
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For further information:
Kantara Initiative:
Bob Olson, Virtual, Inc.
+1.781.876.8839
rolson@virtualinc.com
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*Kantara Initiative will accept all IDESG members and committee participants in its working groups. A new 501 c3 entity called the Kantara Initiative Educational Foundation Inc. was created as an affiliate of Kantara for the purpose of receiving the