Federated Identity Initiatives in NZ
From BeSTGRID
All New Zealand universities have affirmed that they wish to proceed towards the establishment of an Australasian IT trust federation, and join in the security Framework initiative (www.esecurity.edu.au).
This is a clear direction that the Directors of IT in all the New Zealand universities support. The eSecurity Framework is based on Shibboleth technology and SAML2.
On the ground the BeSTGrid initiative (Auckland, Massey and Canterbury are the universities initially involved) is moving ahead with trial/pilot use of Shibboleth technologies to facilitate access to Grid services.
Another related initiative, supported by SCIT, is being promoted through the Advanced Network Capability Building Fund Advisory Panel. This project is aimed at raising the capability of all KAREN members in the identity management and authentication areas, so they will be well prepared for joining the Australasian IT trust federation.
The Australian PKI initiative has been included within the Australian eSecurity Framework. AUSCert will be the certificate authority. New Zealand universities have been strong supporters and contributors to the AUSCert organistion for well over a decade and it would seem very likely that New Zealand will be able to use the AUSCert certificate authority.
While there is a need to build skills in Shibboleth and related technologies, perhaps a bigger challenge will be the alignment of the policies of institutions to facilitate the membership of IT trust federations. These agreements must be signed by the governing authorities of institutions, recognising that they trust each other in relation to provision of identity services and authority assignment.
The Ministry of Education are also working on the development of the use of Shibboleth technology within the ICT Strategic Framework for Education, and they have entered agreements with JISC in the UK, and DEST in Australia. Their initative is aimed at being able to provide education institutions with authenticated access to all education agencies and their services. How this initiative will fit with the SCIT initiative to join the Australasian IT trust federation is yet to be fully understood, and is the subject of part of a draft submission being prepared by SCIT on the CT Strategic Framework for Education.
(Neil James)
