It is now secret that indentify, specifically how it is managed, is now and will likely be one of the top concerns of 2014. The headlines say it all. There is no denying the value to commercial entities of fully leveraging customer profile information for a variety of use cases and do so while also ensuring that vital information is secure and is used appropriately.  For this reason, the update from Mountain View, CA (News - Alert)-based UnboundID, a leading platform provider for identity data, with the release of version 4.5 of the UnboundID Identity Data Platform, is noteworthy.

The enhanced platform provides companies extended capabilities for managing the entire consumer identity lifecycle. It acts as an “Identity API Gateway (News - Alert),” creating a common consumer profile service built on the industry standard OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect protocols. The new version includes an end-to-end consumer profile service – supporting profile data aggregation across disparate, heterogeneous identity data stores – as well as key security and performance enhancements to the core identity data platform.

“We are breaking the molds set by legacy Identity Management platforms built to support employee-facing environments,” said Steve Shoaff, CEO of UnboundID (News - Alert). “With our latest release, we are one step closer to providing a complete, end-to-end stack built for the unique challenges of Consumer Identity Management.”

Dynamic management and protections for shared customer data in real-time across cloud, mobile and social applications

This is a significant upgrade to an already comprehensive cloud-based solution that enables companies the ability to manage and share customer data in real time across the entire online landscape. 

Key capabilities included in the 4.5 version of the UnboundID Identity Data Platform are:

Common Consumer Profile Service – The UnboundID Identity Broker now supports the aggregation of consumer profile data from a wide range of backend identity data stores, including directories, databases, and web services. Profiles may be exposed via the SCIM standard or via a native RESTful API, providing a unified web service for managing the complete consumer identity lifecycle. In accordance with the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework, the UnboundID Identity Broker is also now capable of acting as both an Authorization Server and Resource Server for incoming profile requests.

Fine-Grained, Policy-Driven Data Views – The UnboundID Identity Broker centrally applies authorization rules that filter the attributes returned to requesting applications based on industry or corporate policies, or the consent granted by the individual for whom the profile represents. These virtualized data views may be configured as authoritative for reads, searches, or writes on an attribute-by-attribute basis, providing fine-grained control over how individual attributes are viewed, managed and authorized across multiple backend data sources.

OpenID Connect Authentication – Applications may now leverage the UnboundID Identity Broker for verifying authentication credentials using the OpenID Connect standard protocol. This makes it possible to centralize the management and enforcement of user credentials for use by any internal or third party application.

Tamper-Evident Auditing – By leveraging cryptographic digests, the UnboundID Identity Data Platform provides non-repudiation concerning the integrity of audit log files generated from the platform. This provides additional protective measures against malicious attacks from privileged account holders, administrators or other rogue insider threats.

Enhanced Replication Initialization – Enhancements were made to the UnboundID Identity Data Store to reduce the amount of time required to initialize a replica using binary transfers. This streamlines disaster recovery procedures and reduces the overall time needed to achieve geographic redundancy.

UnboundID likes to say that its platform takes a “privacy-by-design” approach to identity data collection. It is an approach which they say makes the platform different from other platform providers.

The realities of the online world is that balancing company needs to have more effective and efficient marketing based on the ability to mine, analyze and use shared identity data based on end user permission is at the heart of e-commerce with user concerns about data abuse.  In short, Identity matters.  How it is constructively and safely used for creating new value is critical to driving improved customer engagement and is foundational to development of innovative services.     

What this translates into is that management of the identity lifecycle is going to become even more critical over time.  Brand reputations are literally on the line. Plus, the trust upon which e-commerce lives or dies is wrapped up in striking that balance between company and end user needs. As stated at the top it is why the upgrade of the UnboundID Identity Data Platform is something to evaluate. 

Edited by Ryan Sartor