As an implementor, you need tools that work in practice. InCommon provides packaged Identity Access Management (IAM) software (Trusted Access Platform), federation services, and peer-driven documentation to make integration and troubleshooting easier. With community support at your side, you can deploy services faster and more effectively.
InCommon provides implementors with practical, hands-on resources. From the Trusted Access Platform to federation documentation and peer networks, you’ll find the support you need to deploy IAM solutions effectively.
Step-by-step resources that make integrations and rollouts smoother.
Learn directly from implementors solving the same challenges.
Community-tested software and services designed for higher education.
Step-by-step documentation and software from the Trusted Access Platform.
Solve problems faster with peer-tested solutions and community advice.
Learn directly from implementors across the InCommon Federation.
Build real-world skills through InCommon Academy’s technical programs.
Deploy IAM using community-tested services and federation infrastructure.
Deliver secure, reliable access systems that scale with your institution.
“A key lesson learned is that a collaboration the size of LIGO cannot ignore identity management and all of the related issues, including group membership.”
Scott Koranda, senior scientist with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project.
Emerging technologies and evolving security challenges are reshaping identity and access management in research and higher education. During last month’s IAM Online webinar, we heard six InCommon Catalyst partners’ perspectives on the current and near future states of identity and access management (IAM) in research and education (R&E). Here’s an overview of the trends they highlighted. Workforce and Budget Challenges The R&E community is facing significant challenges with IAM, including staff turnover, loss of domain expertise through retirements, and increasing budget constraints. Post-COVID enrollment declines have further strained resources while security and compliance demands continue to grow. Commercial providers are also raising prices for essential services, forcing institutions to reevaluate long-standing practices like providing alumni email accounts for life. Federation Proxies and Emerging Technology Adoption Federation proxies are becoming increasingly accepted as practical solutions for integrating new technologies while maintaining existing deployments. These proxies serve two main functions as federation adapters that serve identity providers to the InCommon federation and federation proxies that handle authentication between InCommon and target applications. This approach helps institutions manage complexity and maintain stability while adopting new security tools and protocols. OpenID Federation and the Future of Federation OpenID Federation is emerging as a potential replacement for current global research and education trust frameworks. This standard provides a flexible trust management model using trust chains – signed assertions that allow entities to trust each other through mutual trust anchors. The interest in OpenID Federation is driven by the declining standardization of XML and SAML, which are becoming less maintained and present challenges for cryptographic agility and metadata management. Additionally, OpenID Foundation’s potential to support verifiable credentials opens the door to collaboration across multiple industries, including academic credentials, research computing, finance, healthcare, and government. February IAM Online Speakers AI and Identity Management Artificial Intelligence is being increasingly deployed in IAM solutions, particularly in risk-based authentication, anomaly and fraud detection, identity verification, threat intelligence, predictive analytics, and compliance automation. However, it’s important to distinguish between machine learning approaches, which are more auditable and concrete, and generative AI, which can be prone to hallucinations and security risks. Universities are uniquely positioned to explore AI implementation given their existing graphics processing unit (GPU) compute resources and research capabilities. Machine Learning and Role Mining for Access Management AI-powered role mining and outlier detection are helping organizations optimize their identity governance. By analyzing existing access patterns, these tools can suggest role structures and identify unusual access rights that may indicate security risks. This approach helps simplify identity governance while maintaining security through data-driven insights rather than relying on potentially problematic language models. Security Considerations and Best Practices in AI Adoption As institutions adopt these new technologies, several key considerations emerge: Running smaller AI models locally on your scale to enhance privacy, security, relevance, and efficiency Carefully evaluating AI vendors and solutions Finding your right balance between convenience and privacy in biometric authentication Using existing frameworks to watch for Gen AI hallucinations Looking Ahead The future of IAM in higher education will continue to see security and compliance demands driving technology adoption in an environment with fewer skilled human resources. Well-curated AI can help manage the increased threat detection demands in an increasingly complex security context. However, success will depend on institutions’ ability to: Maintain clear use cases for new technology adoption Balance innovation with security and privacy concerns Leverage existing resources and expertise Collaborate through communities like InCommon As these trends continue to evolve, R&E institutions must stay informed and strategic in their approach to IAM. The key to success lies not in rushing to adopt every new technology, but in carefully evaluating solutions that address specific institutional needs while maintaining security and privacy standards. Through continued collaboration and careful planning, institutions can navigate these changes while building more robust and efficient identity management systems. ICYMI IAM Industry Leaders Map Out 2025’s Critical Trends & Guidance for Higher Ed
“Identity management is what ideally knits all our disparate services into a cohesive experience for our faculty, staff, and students,” observed Marc Wallman, current chair of the InCommon Steering Committee and vice president, Information Technology Division, North Dakota State University. “Nothing else comes close.” Last month, Wallman and Kevin Morooney, Internet2’s vice president of trust and identity and NET+ Programs, kicked off InCommon Futures2, a strategic planning project being undertaken by the InCommon Steering Committee to help guide a vibrant future for InCommon and explore the identity and access management (IAM) challenges facing the research and higher ed community. Morooney agreed that the higher ed community needs to carefully consider identity management issues. “Identity and access management needs in higher education remain uniquely challenging,” he said. “While well-financed IAM solutions have come a long way over the last two decades, many challenges remain in higher education.” With these challenges in mind, what’s the expected output of the InCommon Futures 2.0 planning process? According to Internet2 Associate Vice President for Trust & Identity Ann West, who is helping to lead the effort, “It establishes a shared strategic direction for the community and Internet2’s Trust and Identity Division for the next five years and sets the stage for further requirements gathering and shared work.” Ann West, Kevin Morooney, Marc Wallman Is There More Information Available? To learn more about InCommon Futures2, check out this blog post, recapping Kevin and Marc’s presentation at the 2023 Internet2 Community Exchange in Atlanta last month. InCommon Futures2 was also the topic for our May IAM Online webinar, “InCommon’s Future: Get In On the Discussion.” Watch the recording | Download the slides. How Can You Participate In The Process? This summer, in consultation with the Steering Futures2 Working Group, we’ll be announcing some specific mechanisms we’re putting in place to gather the community’s input. They include a survey, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. Please check the InCommon website for updates. Steering Futures2 Working Group: Christopher Misra, Laura Paglione, Rachana Ananthakrishnan, and Christine Miki Six Guiding Principles for InCommon Futures2 Our work together must stand up to the lens of the broader community. We must assume that we operate in transparency by default. It is essential to foster confidence and inclusion in our activities and messaging. We want individuals to see themselves (or someone like them) as contributing to the process in some way. Our decisions, strategies and recommendations can be traced to community or research-driven data or citations. The actors guiding this process are the community and Internet2. All decisions are driven by consensus by the Steering Futures2 Working Group. We will respect the opinions, business needs, and time of all members. We are advocates for each other. In the meantime, contact us to let us know your initial thoughts about the project and how you might like to be involved.
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