Identification collapse - contingency in Identity Management

Abstract

Identity management (IdM) facilitates identification, authentication and authorization in most digital processes that involve humans. Digital services as well as work processes, customer relationship management, telecommunications and payment systems rely on forms of IdM. IdM is a business-critical infrastructure. Organizations rely on one specific IdM technology chosen to fit a certain context. Registration, credential issuance and deployment of digital identities are then bound to the chosen technology. What happens if that technology is disrupted? This article discusses consequences and mitigation strategies for identification collapse based on case studies and literature search. The result is a surprising shortage of available documented mitigation and recovery strategies for identification collapse.