Understanding Windows CardSpace: An Introduction to the Concepts and Challenges of Digital Identities

by Vittorio Bertocci, Garrett Serack, Caleb Baker

Windows CardSpace empowers organizations to prevent identity theft and systematically address a broad spectrum of security and privacy challenges. Understanding Windows CardSpace is the first insider’s guide to Windows CardSpace and the broader topic of identity management for technical and business professionals. Drawing on the authors’ unparalleled experience earned by working with the CardSpace product team and by implementing state-of-the-art CardSpace-based systems at leading enterprises, it offers unprecedented insight into the realities of identity from planning and design through deployment. Part I introduces the fundamental concepts of user-centered identity management, explains the context in which Windows CardSpace operates, and reviews the problems CardSpace aims to solve. Next, the authors walk through CardSpace from a technical standpoint, describing its technologies, elements, artifacts, operations and development practices, and usage scenarios. Finally, they carefully review the design and business considerations associated with architecting solutions based on CardSpace or any other user-centered identity management system. Coverage includes Whether you’re a developer, security specialist, or business decision-maker, this book will answer your most crucial questions about identity management, so you can protect everything that your people, your assets, your partners, and your customers. Foreword xv Preface xviii Part I Setting the Context Chapter 1: The Problem 3 The Advent of Profitable Digital Crime 4 Ascent and Decline 29 The Babel of Cryptography 36 The Babel of Web User Interfaces 79 Summary 84 Chapter 2: Hints Toward a Solution 87 A World Without a Center 89 The Seven Laws of Identity 92 The Identity Metasystem 110 Trust 1

354 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007