WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 You shared a really fascinating foundation article 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.139 with us today on this whole concept of federated 00:00:06.139 --> 00:00:09.359 identity. And, you know, our mission for this 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.439 deep dive is to use your source material to basically 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:17.640 decode the invisible architecture behind a button 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:19.670 that you, the listener, have probably clicked, 00:00:19.730 --> 00:00:21.510 I don't know, three times already today. Oh, 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:23.710 absolutely. Yeah, it's ubiquitous. You know the 00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:27.089 exact scenario. You download a new app, or you're 00:00:27.089 --> 00:00:28.809 trying to read an article on some new website, 00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:30.730 and you hit that unavoidable sign up screen. 00:00:31.010 --> 00:00:33.049 You're staring down this form demanding your 00:00:33.049 --> 00:00:35.689 email, your birth date, a brand new password 00:00:35.689 --> 00:00:38.950 with a capital letter, a number, a hieroglyph. 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:40.450 Yeah, a special character that you're definitely 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:42.990 going to forget. Exactly. But right below all 00:00:42.990 --> 00:00:45.609 that hassle, there's this escape hatch. It's 00:00:45.609 --> 00:00:48.509 just a button that says. Log in with Google or 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:51.090 you know sign in with Apple you click it a little 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:53.490 window pops up you hit confirm and suddenly you're 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:58.759 just in it feels entirely frictionless and I 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:00.979 mean, for most of us, it has completely rewired 00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:03.399 how we navigate the digital world. We don't even 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:05.180 really process what's happening behind the screen 00:01:05.180 --> 00:01:07.840 anymore. We just expect it to work. OK, let's 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.459 unpack this. Because to the average person, clicking 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:12.299 that button just feels like pure tech magic. 00:01:12.739 --> 00:01:14.760 But the source material you sent us, this Wikipedia 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.760 article on federated identity, it paints a very 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.439 different picture. It really does. I mean, it 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.040 might look like magic on the user's end, but 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.319 the reality is rigorously structured. That convenience 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:29.579 is actually the result of a highly complex, constantly 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:32.540 evolving system of trust. And in the IT world, 00:01:32.739 --> 00:01:34.640 this is known as Federated Identity Management, 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.180 or FIDM. FIDM. Yeah. It's not magic at all. It's 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.939 a meticulously designed framework that essentially 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.120 bridges completely autonomous security domains. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:46.379 Autonomous security domains. Wow. I mean, that 00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:48.000 sounds like something out of a sci -fi novel. 00:01:48.340 --> 00:01:51.079 But it makes me realize that to really appreciate 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:54.599 the brilliance of this solution, we probably 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:57.340 first have to understand the nightmare of the 00:01:57.340 --> 00:01:59.459 original problem, right? Like, let's go back 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:02.780 to the old paradigm. Why do we even need to invent 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:05.180 this federated system in the first place? Well, 00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:07.760 to understand the why, you really have to look 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.159 at how computer networks were originally built. 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:13.139 So the historical standard was centralized identity 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:17.289 management. To be fair, centralized systems work 00:02:17.289 --> 00:02:19.169 brilliantly for the specific environment they 00:02:19.169 --> 00:02:21.169 were designed for. Which was what, exactly? They 00:02:21.169 --> 00:02:23.849 work perfectly when you, the user, and the data 00:02:23.849 --> 00:02:26.169 you were trying to access were all physically 00:02:26.169 --> 00:02:28.909 located on the exact same network. You were operating 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:31.189 entirely within one single domain of control. 00:02:31.370 --> 00:02:33.050 Okay, let me see if I can visualize this. It's 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:36.550 like a traditional corporate office badge. Like, 00:02:36.569 --> 00:02:39.229 if I work at Acme Corp, my physical badge gets 00:02:39.229 --> 00:02:41.449 me through the front lobby, into the elevator, 00:02:41.750 --> 00:02:44.000 you know, into my specific department. And it 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.159 works perfectly because ACME Core issued the 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.060 badge, they own the building, and they manage 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:50.939 all the electronic locks. So the badge and the 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.300 locks are in the same closed loop. That is a 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:55.520 perfect physical analogy. Yeah. Yeah, the centralized 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:57.819 digital model was completely dependent on that 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.199 closed loop. The IT department owned the server. 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.319 They owned the desktop computer you were sitting 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.479 at, and they issued your username and password. 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:06.639 But then, you know, the internet decentralized 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.840 everything. The cloud happened. And suddenly, 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:12.300 the user was geographically and technically separated 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:14.379 from the systems they needed to access. Right, 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:16.340 because, I mean, my company doesn't host its 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:19.159 own HR software anymore. We use a cloud provider. 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:22.659 Our email is hosted by a different company entirely. 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:25.680 Our project management tool as well, that's hosted 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.300 by a third company. Exactly. loop just completely 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:31.840 shattered. External users suddenly needed to 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.539 access internal systems and internal users needed 00:03:34.539 --> 00:03:38.419 to securely access external systems. So going 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:41.139 back to your analogy, your ACME core badge is 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:43.580 completely useless if you try to use it to get 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:45.360 into a partner company's building across the 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:47.819 street. Oh yeah, because their security desk 00:03:47.819 --> 00:03:50.379 has no idea who I am. Right, and their turnstiles 00:03:50.379 --> 00:03:52.479 don't recognize the microchip in your badge. 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:55.819 So this exact cross -company, cross -domain access 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:59.360 issue is what broke the centralized model. It 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:02.060 led to this era of password fatigue, where people 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:05.759 had like 40 different logins for 40 different 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.060 work tools. Oh man, I remember that. Writing 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:09.699 them all on sticky notes and hiding them under 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:12.259 the keyboard. Exactly, which is a massive security 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:14.620 risk in itself. So we needed a universal badge. 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:18.399 a way to prove who you are across borders, which 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.360 brings us to the term itself, federated identity 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.860 management. OK, so on that note, whenever I hear 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:25.740 people talk about this in tech circles, they 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:28.740 almost always use the term single sign on or 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:31.319 SSO. And it seems like everyone just uses the 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:33.019 terms interchangeably. Are they the same thing? 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.540 They do use them interchangeably, but it is a 00:04:35.540 --> 00:04:37.660 massive misconception. It is absolutely crucial 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:40.720 to separate the two. Single sign on is merely 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.319 a subset of federated identity management. Wait, 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.420 just a subset? Yeah, SSO relates specifically 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:48.800 and only to the technical authentication process. 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:50.939 It's just the software mechanism that lets you 00:04:50.939 --> 00:04:54.660 log in once. But true SSO wouldn't even be possible 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:57.139 across different organizations without a federation 00:04:57.139 --> 00:04:59.259 actually standing behind it. So what does this 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:01.600 all mean for the user? Like if I'm trying to 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:04.360 picture the difference here, is SSO just the 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.100 physical action of turning a key in a lock while 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:10.379 federated identity is the complex legal contract 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:12.639 that actually proves I have the right to rent 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:14.879 the apartment? Yes. That's a great way to look 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.360 at it. Let's use international travel as another 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.339 metaphor. Single sign on is the physical act 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:22.879 of handing your passport to a border agent and 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.959 having them scan the microchip. That's the technical 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.740 interaction. But federated identity management 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:30.720 is the overarching multinational treaty that 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.459 establishes why that border agent scanner trusts 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:35.620 the data on your passport in the first place. 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:39.139 FIDM is the broader umbrella. It encompasses 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:41.540 the common set of policies, the legal liability 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.100 agreements, the privacy practices, and the technical 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.519 protocols that manage identity and trust across 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:49.069 completely different organizations. It makes 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:51.370 so much more sense. The SSO is the technology, 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:54.529 but the federation is the actual trust agreement. 00:05:55.569 --> 00:05:58.529 But wait, how do two completely independent servers 00:05:58.529 --> 00:06:01.149 over the internet actually execute that trust? 00:06:01.350 --> 00:06:04.470 Like if I click log in with Apple on some random 00:06:04.470 --> 00:06:07.050 new food delivery app, those two companies don't 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:09.790 naturally speak the same language. How does the 00:06:09.790 --> 00:06:13.149 food app know Apple isn't just making things 00:06:13.149 --> 00:06:16.490 up? And that is exactly where open industry standards 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:19.449 come into play. Federation is only possible through 00:06:19.449 --> 00:06:22.750 the use of openly published standardized specifications. 00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:25.529 If Apple and the food delivery app both build 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:28.170 their systems to adhere to a shared open standard, 00:06:28.889 --> 00:06:31.050 they can achieve interoperability without having 00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:33.170 to write custom code for each other. OK, I want 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:35.290 to get granular here. Walk me through the mechanism. 00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:37.709 When I click that button, what literally happens 00:06:37.709 --> 00:06:39.949 between those servers? Sure. Let's use one of 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:42.009 the most common open standards from the source, 00:06:42.269 --> 00:06:44.550 something called OAuth or a JSON web token. Think 00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:46.889 of it like a digital wristband at a concert venue. 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:49.399 When you click that login button on the new app, 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:51.759 the app basically acts like a bartender who says, 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:53.939 I need to see some ID. But instead of asking 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.740 for your password, the app redirects your browser 00:06:56.740 --> 00:06:59.319 over to the bouncer, which in this case is Apple 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:02.459 or Google. So I'm temporarily sent over to the 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:04.939 tech giant's domain. Correct. You authenticate 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:07.240 with a bouncer. You put in your Apple password. 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:10.920 Maybe use your face ID. Apple verifies you are 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:15.079 who you say you are. Then Apple creates a token. 00:07:15.339 --> 00:07:18.500 a tiny package of data. But here is the critical 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:22.040 part. Apple mathematically signs that token using 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:24.079 a cryptographic key that belongs only to them. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.759 Oh, interesting. Yeah. And then Apple hands that 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:29.139 token, the digital wristband, back to your browser, 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:31.660 which passes it along to the food delivery app. 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:34.040 And the food delivery app looks at the cryptographic 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:36.120 signature, recognizes it's from Apple, and just 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:38.279 lets me in. Precisely. Because of those open 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.740 standards, things like SAML, OpenID, or the Higgins 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:44.879 Trust framework, The app can verify the signature 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:46.959 hasn't been tampered with. It trusts the wristband, 00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:49.540 so it doesn't need to check your ID itself. And 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:51.860 most importantly, the food delivery app never, 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.139 ever sees your actual password. That's a brilliant 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:57.959 mechanism. But earlier, you mentioned that FIDM 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:01.279 is the overarching policy agreement. So how are 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.980 these trust relationships actually structured 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.139 in the real world? Like, are they all just direct 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.639 agreements between two specific companies? Not 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.720 always, no. There are two main architectures 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:14.300 for this trust. The first is bilateral. This 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:16.759 is a direct one -to -one relationship, you and 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.120 me. In a bilateral federation, the two parties 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:23.079 directly exchange the necessary metadata, like 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:25.019 those cryptographic signing keys we just talked 00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:27.120 about, so they can verify each other's tokens. 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:29.279 Simple enough, but I imagine that doesn't scale 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:31.819 very well if you have, say, thousands of partners. 00:08:32.019 --> 00:08:34.139 It doesn't scale at all. And that brings us to 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:36.519 the second type, which is multilateral federation. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.460 This is where the trust ecosystem becomes really 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:42.580 fascinating. Multilateral federations frequently 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:45.360 occur in specific vertical markets. The Wikipedia 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.279 article gives two great examples of this. Oh 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.820 yeah, I saw those. First, there's the National 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:53.139 Identity Exchange Federation, or NEF, which is 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:56.039 used across law enforcement. And second, a framework 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:58.779 called InCommon, which is used heavily in the 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.059 research and higher education community. Here's 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:02.919 where it gets really interesting. Because if 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:05.759 you have hundreds of different universities or 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.620 thousands of local state and federal law enforcement 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:12.019 agencies, they can't all be swapping cryptographic 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:15.019 keys with each other directly. The administrative 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.659 overhead alone would be impossible. It would 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:20.279 be an absolute nightmare. So in these multilateral 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.799 relationships, the exchange of trust is handled 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.100 differently. It's usually managed through a hub 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:28.250 and spoke model. or by the distribution of a 00:09:28.250 --> 00:09:31.529 massive metadata aggregate that's run by a dedicated 00:09:31.529 --> 00:09:33.370 federated operator. Wait, let me make sure I'm 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:35.049 following. Are you saying there is a central 00:09:35.049 --> 00:09:38.190 organization that just holds all the keys for 00:09:38.190 --> 00:09:40.889 everyone in that industry? Who sits at the center 00:09:40.889 --> 00:09:43.629 of that hub? And more importantly, who audits 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:46.190 the auditor? That is the multi -million dollar 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:48.690 question, and it's exactly why FIDM is about. 00:09:48.809 --> 00:09:51.629 policy, not just technology. The entity at the 00:09:51.629 --> 00:09:53.850 center, the federated operator, has to be a highly 00:09:53.850 --> 00:09:56.529 audited, mutually agreed upon governing body. 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:59.509 Six cents. Take the Incommon Federation for Higher 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:02.509 Education. Because they have this multilateral 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:05.250 hub of trust, a researcher from the University 00:10:05.250 --> 00:10:07.389 of Michigan can travel to a completely different 00:10:07.389 --> 00:10:10.730 institution, log on to their local Wi -Fi, and 00:10:10.730 --> 00:10:13.629 access shared academic databases using their 00:10:13.629 --> 00:10:16.610 home Michigan credentials. The hub vouches for 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:18.840 the spoke. It's like the Schengen Zone in Europe. 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.360 Because all those countries agreed to a central 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.799 framework of trust, the borders between them 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.139 effectively dissolve for the traveler. That is 00:10:26.139 --> 00:10:28.360 a brilliant way to frame it. The Open Standards 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.919 Act is the shared legal framework allowing the 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.440 borders between autonomous security domains to 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.799 dissolve for the authenticated user. Okay, so 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:37.720 we've covered how the old centralized systems 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:40.269 broke under the weight of the cloud. We've separated 00:10:40.269 --> 00:10:43.149 the technical tokens of SSO from the broad trust 00:10:43.149 --> 00:10:45.870 treaties of FIDM, and we've looked at the mechanics 00:10:45.870 --> 00:10:48.490 of, you know, cryptographic wristbands and multilateral 00:10:48.490 --> 00:10:51.070 hubs. But I want to pivot to the stakes here. 00:10:51.529 --> 00:10:54.649 Why are massive organizations pouring billions 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:57.490 of dollars into this? What is the actual real 00:10:57.490 --> 00:11:00.409 -world payoff? Well, the source synthesizes the 00:11:00.409 --> 00:11:02.529 ultimate goals of Identity Federation down to 00:11:02.529 --> 00:11:05.649 four distinct benefits. First is cost reduction. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:09.500 When an organization adopts these open federation 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:11.840 standards, they basically eliminate the need 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:14.600 to build and scale expensive proprietary login 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:16.940 systems for every single partner they interact 00:11:16.940 --> 00:11:19.200 with. That makes total sense. Like, why build 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.779 your own bespoke border checkpoint when you can 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.700 just join the Schengen zone? Exactly. The second 00:11:24.700 --> 00:11:27.519 benefit is increased security and lower risk. 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:31.259 By using Federation, an organization can authenticate 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.279 a user just once, incredibly securely, and then 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:36.960 rely on that verified identity across multiple 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.679 systems. Wait, hold on, I have to push back on 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:40.860 this one. If I use my Google or Apple account 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:43.360 for literally everything, my Spotify, my banking 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:45.659 app, my work portal, doesn't that just create 00:11:45.659 --> 00:11:47.960 a massive single point of failure? I mean, if 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.200 someone manages to hack my central Google account, 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:52.820 don't they now have the skeleton key to my entire 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:55.299 digital life? How on earth is that more secure? 00:11:55.549 --> 00:11:58.529 It is a very valid concern. It absolutely does 00:11:58.529 --> 00:12:01.850 concentrate the target. But here is the counterintuitive 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:06.230 reality of digital security. While the blast 00:12:06.230 --> 00:12:08.529 radius of a compromised federated account is 00:12:08.529 --> 00:12:12.169 much larger, the defense of that account is exponentially 00:12:12.169 --> 00:12:15.190 stronger. Really? How so? Well, think about it. 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:18.090 If you have 50 different logins for 50 different 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:21.029 websites, you're relying on 50 different companies 00:12:21.029 --> 00:12:23.409 to perfectly secure their individual databases. 00:12:24.190 --> 00:12:26.549 Statistically, One of them is going to get breached. 00:12:26.850 --> 00:12:28.830 And if you reused your password, the hackers 00:12:28.830 --> 00:12:31.350 have you. But if you federate your identity to 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:33.629 a major provider, you can turn on the most advanced 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:35.950 security available. Things like hardware security 00:12:35.950 --> 00:12:38.269 keys, biometric multi -factor authentication, 00:12:38.490 --> 00:12:41.149 and algorithmic anomaly detection. You secure 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:43.639 one vault with bank level armor. rather than 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.480 trying to defend 50 flimsy wooden doors. Ah, 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:48.539 I see. So it's a trade -off. I am putting all 00:12:48.539 --> 00:12:50.879 my eggs in one basket, but it's a reinforced 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.120 steel basket guarded by lasers. Exactly. Which 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:56.399 ties into the third benefit, and this is privacy 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:58.159 compliance. This one actually often surprises 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.559 people. Federation can improve your privacy through 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:02.820 concept called data minimization. Okay, now you've 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:06.139 really lost me. How is it more private if a massive 00:13:06.139 --> 00:13:08.759 tech giant is the one facilitating all my logins? 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.399 Aren't they tracking everywhere I go? They might 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:14.019 see the authentication request, yes. But think 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:15.980 about the data being passed to the destination 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:19.620 app. Without federation, a new app might demand 00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:22.519 your full name, your birthdate, and your email 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:25.299 just to create an account. Right. The usual form. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.759 But with a properly configured federated system, 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.399 the app can just ask the identity provider for 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.950 a claim. The app says, I don't need to know who 00:13:32.950 --> 00:13:34.889 this person is, I just need you to verify they 00:13:34.889 --> 00:13:37.490 are over 18. The provider checks your hidden 00:13:37.490 --> 00:13:39.789 data and just passes back a token that says, 00:13:40.230 --> 00:13:42.809 yes, over 18, your actual birthdate is never 00:13:42.809 --> 00:13:44.850 handed over to the third party app. Oh, wow. 00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:47.350 So I have much more granular control over what 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:49.750 specific pieces of my identity cross the border. 00:13:49.970 --> 00:13:51.830 Exactly. And finally, the fourth benefit, which 00:13:51.830 --> 00:13:53.450 is where we started this whole conversation, 00:13:53.990 --> 00:13:56.529 is the drastically improved end user experience. 00:13:57.190 --> 00:13:59.559 Federation enables cross -domain. single sign 00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:02.379 -on, but it also enables something called automatic 00:14:02.379 --> 00:14:05.000 federated provisioning. Provisioning, meaning 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:06.960 like setting up the account in the first place. 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:09.240 Right. It eliminates the need for you to fill 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.960 out a registration form entirely. When you click 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.659 login with Apple on a new app, the federated 00:14:14.659 --> 00:14:16.960 system automatically generates a user profile 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:19.980 for you in their database on the fly, populated 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:22.360 only with the trusted identity data it received 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:25.399 in the token. It really is a vastly superior 00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:27.980 system. And it's not just private tech companies 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:29.940 pushing this, is it? Because the source material 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:32.299 mentions that the United States government is 00:14:32.299 --> 00:14:34.700 heavily involved in these frameworks, too. Deeply 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:36.860 involved. Yeah. What's fascinating here is that 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:39.620 back in December 2016, the National Institute 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:42.080 of Standards and Technology, NIST, published 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:45.019 a specific building block white paper on privacy 00:14:45.019 --> 00:14:48.139 enhanced identity brokers. The government recognized 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:51.159 that relying on fragmented legacy identity systems 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:53.559 was a massive national security vulnerability. 00:14:53.779 --> 00:14:56.000 So what are they doing differently than, say, 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:59.100 Facebook or Google? Well, they are using these 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:02.240 open standards to drag massive government bureaucracies 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:05.659 into the modern era safely. The source highlights 00:15:05.659 --> 00:15:08.419 a government -wide program called FedRAMP. It 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:10.259 provides a standardized approach to security 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.639 assessment and continuous monitoring for cloud 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:15.679 products. Essentially, FedRAMP uses federated 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.120 identity standards to allow government agencies 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:21.500 to rapidly abandon insecure legacy IT systems 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:24.700 and migrate into secure, cost -effective cloud 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:27.419 platforms. If a cloud provider wants government 00:15:27.419 --> 00:15:29.720 contracts, they have to speak this federated 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.159 language of trust. That perfectly illustrates 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.259 how fundamental this architecture is. I mean, 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:36.419 it's bridging the gap between national security 00:15:36.419 --> 00:15:39.159 infrastructure and the conveniences on our smartphones. 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.440 And speaking of those conveniences, the source 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.120 lists out the major players acting as these digital 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.100 passports for the public. It's a very global 00:15:47.100 --> 00:15:50.340 list. It is. Because the need for portable identity 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:53.049 is a universal Internet problem. Right. I mean, 00:15:53.210 --> 00:15:55.470 in the West, we lean heavily on Apple, Facebook, 00:15:55.710 --> 00:15:58.230 Google, and Microsoft. But globally, you have 00:15:58.230 --> 00:16:01.269 massive ecosystems built around Alipay, KakaoTalk, 00:16:01.490 --> 00:16:03.970 Line, WeChat, and Vcontact Day. Plus, you have 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:06.009 platforms like GitHub specifically federating 00:16:06.009 --> 00:16:08.629 trust for software developers. It is a crowded, 00:16:09.110 --> 00:16:11.779 highly lucrative field. Becoming the central 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:14.600 hub of trust for millions of users gives a platform 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.720 incredible leverage. But, as the source points 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.039 out, building the technology isn't enough to 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:22.799 guarantee success in this space. It is a highly 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.929 competitive and evolving ecosystem. Right, because 00:16:25.929 --> 00:16:28.230 the article specifically notes a failed attempt 00:16:28.230 --> 00:16:30.590 by Mozilla. They launched a project called Mozilla 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:33.309 Persona, trying to establish a more decentralized, 00:16:33.429 --> 00:16:36.009 browser -based identity provider, but they ended 00:16:36.009 --> 00:16:38.049 up shutting down the service entirely in November 00:16:38.049 --> 00:16:41.210 2016. Yeah, and that failure highlights a crucial 00:16:41.210 --> 00:16:43.970 lesson about federated identity management. It 00:16:43.970 --> 00:16:46.809 is heavily reliant on network effects. You can 00:16:46.809 --> 00:16:48.870 write the most elegant, secure, open -source 00:16:48.870 --> 00:16:51.090 code in the world, but if the destination websites 00:16:51.090 --> 00:16:53.529 don't adopt your standard, and users don't adopt 00:16:53.529 --> 00:16:56.090 your wallet, the federation just collapses. It 00:16:56.090 --> 00:16:58.230 needs everyone on board. Right. The ecosystem 00:16:58.230 --> 00:17:00.830 requires simultaneous buy -in from both the users 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:03.809 and the relying domains. Trust only works if 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:07.029 everyone agrees to honor the treaty. So, to synthesize 00:17:07.029 --> 00:17:10.150 this entire deep dive, the next time you, the 00:17:10.150 --> 00:17:12.670 listener, click that login with Apple or login 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:15.250 with Google button, you aren't just taking a 00:17:15.250 --> 00:17:18.230 convenient shortcut. You are actively participating 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:21.619 in federated identity management. It is a massive 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:24.759 invisible web of policy and cryptography built 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:27.740 on open standards that allows completely autonomous 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:30.940 security domains to vouch for you. It's the architecture 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:33.779 that rescued us from the siloed password cluttered 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:35.779 walled gardens of the early internet and made 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:38.559 the modern decentralized cloud functional. And 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.799 if we connect this to the bigger picture, understanding 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:42.759 the mechanics behind that button is absolutely 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:45.380 crucial. We live in an era of intense digital 00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:48.000 vulnerability, knowing exactly how your identity 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.480 is authenticated, how metadata is exchanged, 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:52.960 and who actually holds the keys to your digital 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.500 life. It isn't just obscure IT trivia. It is 00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:58.720 fundamental to navigating the modern world securely 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.740 and privately. I couldn't agree more. Which brings 00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:04.299 us to a final, slightly mind -bending thought 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:06.640 we want to leave you with today. Throughout this 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.240 deep dive, we've tracked the evolution of identity 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:12.480 from those old centralized company logins to 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:15.779 these modern federated social logins. They are 00:18:15.779 --> 00:18:18.079 incredibly convenient and, as we discussed, often 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.859 more secure. But ultimately, the hub of that 00:18:20.859 --> 00:18:24.259 trust is still controlled by a massive tech giant. 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:27.000 You are basically renting your digital passport 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:30.220 from Google or Apple. Which is a profound concentration 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:32.759 of power when you think about it. Exactly. But 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:34.960 the source material briefly mentions user -centric 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.619 scenarios. and it points toward a radical new 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:40.440 concept called self -sovereign identity. It makes 00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:43.019 you wonder, if the entire point of federation 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:45.559 is using open standards to pass identity data 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.220 seamlessly across borders without exposing passwords, 00:18:48.900 --> 00:18:50.940 what happens when the ultimate domain of control 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:53.839 becomes just you? That is the next great frontier 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.980 of the internet. What would the digital world 00:18:55.980 --> 00:18:59.279 look like if you held your own cryptographic 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.779 keys on your own device, totally untethered from 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:05.000 the big corporate providers, but you were still 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:07.539 able to instantly federate your trust anywhere 00:19:07.539 --> 00:19:10.140 you went? You become your own passport authority. 00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.660 It completely flips the power dynamic of the 00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:14.380 web. It's definitely something to think about 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:16.039 the next time you're staring at a sign up screen 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.920 wondering who you are about to trust. Thank you 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:20.740 so much for joining us on this deep dive. We'll 00:19:20.740 --> 00:19:21.420 catch you next time.