IT Expert Voice

If federated identity protocols can’t agree upon a uniform token format, or even standardized processes to arrive upon such a format, then perhaps they could agree upon a set of fundamental terms and concepts they all share. This may be the only key to resolving a major roadblock for enterprises.

Of all the problems with making the twenty or more user identity federation protocols in active use today work together, the most prominent is this: The standards upon which all those protocols are based are themselves moving targets. Thus a fixed solution one month may fail to work next month.

“In order for us to build interconnected systems, we need to have some agreement between all of the people who are going to be using this software and the vendors, on what the standards are for interconnecting identities,” said Stuart Kwan, Identity and Access Group Program Manager for Microsoft. “I don’t know if I would characterize it as any one vendor who is leading here. We all have to work together to make things happen, and Microsoft has been involved with a lot of the standards bodies in this area, in OASIS, in the IETF, and increasingly, other places where these standards have been advancing. . . We’ve been making a pretty major investment in engaging in these conversations, both in the industry and in standards bodies, to help move the ball forward with everyone else.” READ MORE

Much of performance improvement, security, and troubleshooting work is reactive. While there’s no avoiding this fact, implementing a Daily Log Review policy puts IT staff in a more pro-active position, using each day to build a set of rules that alert you to potential problems before they become serious.

How often does your team find, while troubleshooting an issue, that were small warning signs leading up to the incident but no one had noticed, or there had been no context to make it clear that they were seeing a real problem? Hopefully you don’t encounter such situations very often, but it happens. A daily log review policy can help to catch some of these issues earlier before they bog down or, worse, break your servers.

One advantage to allocating time for daily log review into your staff’s routines is that they become more familiar with the day to day workings of your systems. This knowledge in turn makes unusual occurrences stand out even more than they would have before. READ MORE

Now that more software in the cloud and the enterprise requires interoperability, single sign-on (SSO) is the one way every application can ensure its data is properly authorized. But a proliferation of competing Web services models and security vendors have inadvertently managed to move enterprises away from this goal.

On second thought, perhaps the stateless model for the Web wasn’t such a good idea. Sure, it made serving up hypertext easier. And it enabled the first model for distributed applications on a global scale that actually worked. But it’s left us with a significant problem, one so unique and complex that inevitably, enterprises like yours may need to solve it by making tough choices and rolling their own solutions. READ MORE

Centralized identity management makes life easier, and reduces support and licensing costs.

Identity management is usually thought of in terms of security. By properly assigning passwords, permissions, and such, you can help to protect your company’s computers from data loss and other bad stuff. But a well-managed identity management program can also help cut IT costs. READ MORE

IT pros spend a lot of time doing fun things like cleaning up machines to get rid of malware and dealing with the consequences of sensitive data loss by employees. You’d think that with so much experience – and pain – under their collective belts, they’d naturally focus their attention on preventative measures, such as beefing up security policies. But surprisingly, they don’t. READ MORE