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A survey on identity federation solutions

Un Panorama des Solutions de Fédération D’Identité

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Abstract

As Internet is a prime vehicle for business and personal interactions, more and more organizations provide their users with personalized online services. Identity Management is, therefore, a key component for these organizations to manage users’ accounts (i.e. identities) and secure access to their personal services and information. Today, however, users’personal information and authentication are confined to organizations’ boundaries. This brings to a situation where the users have multiple identities on the Internet preventing both users and organizations to benefit from registrations and authentications already done at other organizations. Identity federation becomes, therefore, a key component of identity management enabling authentications and personal information to pass through organizations’boundaries in a privacy-friendly way. This article focuses on Single Sign-On and attribute sharing, two of the main functions Identity Management systems provide. It gives an overview of the main solutions available today.

Résumé

Internet étant un support fondamental pour les interactions personnelles et commerciales, de plus en plus d’organisations proposent des services en ligne personnalisés à leurs utilisateurs. La gestion d’identité est donc un composant clé pour ces organisations pour gérer les comptes (ou identités) des utilisateurs et sécuriser l’accès à leurs informations et services personnels. Aujourd’hui, toutefois, Vauthentication et les informations personnelles des utilisateurs sont confinées aux frontières des organisations et ni les utilisateurs, ni les organisations ne peuvent bénéficier des enregistrements et des authentications déjà réalisés auprès d’autres organisations. La fédération devient donc un composant clé de la gestion d’identité en permettant aux organisations de partager authentifications et informations personnelles des utilisateurs tout en préservant leur vie privée. Cet article se focalise sur l’identification unique et le partage d’attributs, deux fonctions importantes des systèmes de gestion d’identité. Il donne un aperçu des principales solutions disponibles aujourd’hui.

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Malville, E., Crom, JM. & Gourmelen, G. A survey on identity federation solutions. Ann. Télécommun. 61, 379–398 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219913

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