Monthly Archives: September 2018

2018 International Identity Summit Recap

Day 2: Identity Industry Day – September 7, 2018

Connecting Impactful Identity Capabilities of the Global Public and Private Sectors

by Joni Brennan

On September 6 and 7, Identity and Access Management leaders and innovators from around the world convened in Seattle, WA to share perspectives and identify strategic opportunities at the 2018 International Identity Summit.

The two-day Summit began with a Design Workshop, followed by an Identity Industry Day, hosted by DIACC.

Developing a framework for Canadian digital ID interoperability across sectors and industries is no easy task and DIACC members recognize that we must collaborate strategically to reach our vision of unlocking the digital ID capabilities of the public and private sectors to grow the economy while putting Canadians more in control of data about them.  

Our Canadian story is one of collaboration and that approach does not begin and end in Canada.  Securing our place in the digital economy requires interoperability at the multi-national level.  Our approach must prioritize Canadian values and principles while ensuring that we can transact with others around the world.

I’m always humbled to participate in impactful teleconference working out the fine details needed to advance digital ID that prioritizes privacy, security, and convenience of use. While teleconferences continue the community building, it’s important to come together in-person to connect, share perspectives and even to break bread and share a meal.

Recognizing the importance of connection, leaders of digital ID programs from around the world come together in a new host city roughly every 18 months to share information and plan their next steps. In 2015, DIACC was honoured to host an Industry Day at the previous gathering in our “own backyard” in Ottawa. When we were asked to host Industry Day at the 2018 gathering in Seattle to connect the Pacific Northwest innovators, we were thrilled to work in collaboration with partners at the University of Washington.

Industry Day provides a neutral platform for show-and-tell connecting innovators with potential partners and customers. To warm up, attendees took part in a debrief of the findings from the previous day’s design thinking workshop facilitated by University of Washington and sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate. Next, DIACC was proud to begin the day’s content with an inspiring keynote presentation detailing the Government of Canada’s vision and action plan to meet the call for digital ID that Canadians can use with confidence. The keynote was followed by an impressive overview of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology, Silicon Valley Innovation Program. Next, we explored a deep dive of international innovation applied research projects progressing with the support of funding awarded by the DHS Science & Technology Directorate.

We’re thankful to our Industry Day Innovation Sponsors:

  • ForgeRock – International community leadership
  • SecureKey – Canadian community leadership

We saw presentations from:

  • Dmitry Barinov – SecureKey
  • Ehab Samy – Plurilock
  • Karl Kilb – Boloro
  • Ken McMillan – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat/ Cybersecurity
  • Marcel Wendt – Digidentity
  • Mary Leong – Placespeak
  • Melissa Oh – Silicon Valley Innovation Program
  • Rohan Pinto – 1 Kosmos
  • Steve Wilson – Lockstep (ValidIy)

We’re pleased to share the Industry Day presentations and materials from this impactful and on-going event.

To find out more about DIACC, our events and initiatives, please join our newsletter by sending a request to Info@DIACC.ca

International Identity Summit Submissions

The following presentations were shared on Industry Day at the 2018 International Identity Summit, on September 7, 2018.

Canadian Digital Identity – Ken McMillan

TBS_Digital-Identity-Canada-Seattle-KenMcMillan-compressed

Silicon Valley Innovation Program (DHS) – Melissa Oh

DHS_SVIP-Overview-to-Identity-Innovation-Summit-Seattle-9-7-2018-Wide-Version-updated-1-compressed

Verified.Me Supporting On-Line Identity Use-Cases for Account Opening – Dmitry Barinov

SecureKey_Sept-7th-presentation-Identity-Data-Exchanges-Leveraging-Blockchain-Technology_added-DHS-slide_sm-3-compressed

Analysis of Alternative Verification Methods – Marcel Wendt

Digidentity_2018-NHS-DIACC-1-compressed

Mobile Device Attributes Validation (MDAV) – Steve Wilson

ValidIDy-IIS-MDAV-presentation-1.2-HANDOUTS-compressed

Using keystrokes and mouse behavior to protect your workstation against identity threats – Ehab Samy

Plurilock_Shared-Slides-1-compressed

Boloro’s Multi-Factor and Multi-Channel Authentication – Karl Kilb

Boloro-Authentication-September-2018

1 Kosmos, BlockID – Rohan Pinto

1Kosmos_IIS_DEMO-1-compressed

Digital ID Authentication & Online Citizen Engagement – Mary Leong

Identity-Summit-Presentation-PlaceSpeak-1-compressed

Letters from the President: Impactful Trends Underpinning Canada’s Digital Identity Transformation

I’ve worked in digital ID for 15+ years and I’ve seen many new trends emerge, technologies abandoned.  I’ve also seen significant breakthroughs in how the industry thinks about the technical foundations of identity. 2018 has been an exciting year so far. With technology linked to so many facets of our lives, more people than ever before are aware of the technologies they are using now and what technologies will come next. High expectations from users, innovative approaches from companies, and a competitive focus from organizations are creating a perfect storm to accelerate identity technology development and adoption. Here, we take a look at some of the technologies that are looking promising for the next phase of digital ID.

Remixing Blockchain

Blockchain is on the radar for most industries  – and for good reason. It offers a ton of potential and has the potential to embed privacy into the experience from the start. I used to think that blockchain is interesting because, over my career in ID, the technologies we work with tend to be those that are purpose-built for identity. Instead of having a specific purpose and industry-centric development perspective, blockchain has emerged as a non-specific identity technology that has the potential to make a big impact.

That impact has yet to be seen in real world use cases, but its scope and potential are definitely disruptive. Thinking about blockchain more, it is unique for the identity industry because, really, it’s an anti-identity technology. It was created to anonymize financial transactions so, in many ways, it’s not surprising that blockchain is showing up in such a big way in our industry.

While anonymity offers promise in terms of privacy enhancement, a lot of blockchain initiatives  are finding that they NEED to solve for identity. While many blockchain solutions purposefully avoid identifying people to create trusted transactions, many regulated (and non-regulated)  industries require ID for tracking and accountability. This has been an exciting conversation starter and has opened some unexpected dialogues across industries. With everyone exploring blockchain, the role and critical nature of digital ID is gaining even more traction in diverse circles.

An Integrated Ecosystem – Not a Single Solution

In my view, the most exciting breakthrough has been a shift in mindsets rather than a shift in technology: the dawn of thinking of the identity landscape as a network or networks. Building on learning from the identity federation model, networks for attribute verification are the next evolution in digital identity and, in my view, a compelling way forward for impactful change.

From recent events and developments in the community, the big takeaways in terms of network thinking has been that all approaches – from technologies to policies – need to be inclusive, interoperable, privacy-respecting and designed for the long-term.

Introducing Face ID

Biometrics have advanced significantly over the past year and some of the user experience ground has been broken with the introduction of face ID. The technology may not seem earth shattering to average users, but early product integrations have helped the industry to start gauging the efficacy and public reaction to facial recognition – is it creepy or cool? Helpful or not? Just as touch ID got people more comfortable with fingerprint biometrics, face ID may mark the beginning of establishing people’s comfort with and the usability of facial recognition. Tests, integrations, and technologies need to be balanced with our core priorities of security, privacy enhancement, and convenience of use.


We’re thrilled to convene leading organizations that are moving the needle forward toward establishing an ecosystem of interoperabile identity solutions and services that Canadians can use with confidence. The DIACC’s community-first approach ensures that Canada’s participation in the digital economy will be secured by leveraging the strengths of both the public and private sectors to deliver socio-economic growth opportunities to all Canadians from the rural suburbs to our most urban city centres. Be a leader by getting in touch with us to learn more about becoming a member of the community shaping Canada’s digital identity transformation.