OIX aims to simplify online logins

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 04 March 2010 16:32

Business IT - Security

Open Identity Exchange might sound like a bazaar for identity thieves, but it's actually about being able to use a single set of credentials in multiple online settings.

Formed by Google, PayPal, Equifax, VeriSign, Verizon, CA, and Booz Allen Hamilton with financial support from the OpenID Foundation (OIDF) and the Information Card Foundation, the goal of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) is to build trust in the exchange of online identity credentials.

Google, Paypal and Equifax are the first three identity providers certified by OIX, which is in turn approved by the US Government.

The first US government website to accept OIX credentials is that of the National Institutes of Health. The idea is to allow the American public to participate in open, transparent and participatory government while maintaining full control of how much or how little personal information they share with federal websites.

"OpenID and Information Card technologies can solve the technical problem of using identity credentials across different websites, but can't solve the problem of how those credentials can be trusted at different levels of assurance. OIX is a solution to this problem," said Don Thibeau, OIDF executive director and OIX board chair.

Peter Tippett, vice president of security solutions and enterprise innovation for Verizon Business, said "As a leader in identity infrastructure, we are excited about the progress the OIX is making in creating a common set of process and protocols that will ultimately result in Internet users having a single user name and password to more securely access any site on the Web."

Verizon is expected to be certified as an OIX identity provider in the near future.