Assurance design for services
Each service is matched with an identity assurance level according to its risk, so that authentication is strong enough to prevent fraud without excluding people unnecessarily.
GCRI · Digital Public Infrastructure
Digital identity engineering
Digital identity and public digital systems is the technology this platform stewards for the network. It covers how identity is established, credentials issued and verified, and authentication performed, with privacy, inclusion and assurance designed in.
01Register
Digital identity engineering on the record.
Method recordSTEM method
- MethodDigital identity and public digital systems
- StewardDigital Public Infrastructure
- Applied inDigital Public Infrastructure
- Data3 inputs
- Checks3 validation steps
- Canonical pageSTEM Commons
02Application
What digital identity and public digital systems does here.
Digital identity and public digital systems provide the means for people and organisations to prove who they are and access services online. They underpin social protection, financial inclusion and emergency assistance. In digital public infrastructure and cyber and digital resilience, digital identity systems determine how quickly aid and payments reach people after shocks. Their failure or misuse can amplify social and economic harm. The canonical description is on the STEM Commons.
Verifiable credentials
Credentials such as qualifications or licences are issued in standard formats that holders can present and verifiers can check cryptographically, sharing only needed attributes.
Exclusion error analysis
Enrolment and authentication failures are analysed by group to find people excluded by documents, biometrics or connectivity, and alternatives are designed.
03Monitor
Security assessment.
The screen a team would use to follow this method: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Security assessment
Digital public infrastructure · Digital identity engineering · Run R-2631
Two high findingsGCRI · Digital Public Infrastructure
Findings
| Weak key rotation | Identity service | High | PR.AA | Open |
| Unpatched gateway | Edge | High | PR.PS | Fixing |
| Logging gap | Payments API | Medium | DE.CM | Open |
| Stale accounts | Directory | Low | PR.AA | Closed |
Method card
- Method
- Digital identity and public digital systems
- Framework
- CSF 2.0 functions
- Scope
- 43 assets
- Label
- MODELLED
Control coverage by function
04Data
What the method consumes.
Datasets and records used by digital identity and public digital systems on this platform, with the role each plays and the label its values carry. Sources are listed in the source register.
| Data | Role | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Identity system enrolment records | Coverage | Published statistics |
| Authentication logs | Failure rates | OBSERVED |
| Household surveys | Exclusion | REPORTED |
05Methods and evidence
How digital identity engineering is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Datasets and provenance
The data classes behind digital identity engineering and what is recorded about each before it is used.
| Data class | Provenance recorded | Resolution stated | Licence checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satellite imagery, optical and radar | sensor, processing level, acquisition date | pixel size and revisit | per scene |
| Reanalysis and climate model output | model, experiment, member, version | grid and time step | per release |
| In-situ sensors and gauges | station, instrument, calibration record | point and sampling rate | per network |
| Population and asset exposure | method, vintage, input sources | cell size and unit | per release |
| Boundaries and reference geography | producer, edition, date | scale | per edition |
- Lineage
- W3C PROV record from source to figure
- Principles
- FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable
- Gaps
- shown as missing, never filled silently
FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
06Validation
How results are checked.
Systems are tested for accuracy of matching, resistance to fraud and accessibility. Independent audits review privacy and security controls.
| Check | How it is done |
|---|---|
| Assurance mapping review | Assurance levels are reviewed against service risk |
| Privacy impact assessment | Identity designs undergo privacy impact assessment |
| Disaggregated failure analysis | Failure rates are reported by group |
Exclusion errors can deny services to vulnerable groups. Centralised systems create attractive targets and single points of failure.
07Process
How the process runs.
Process
Digital identity engineering: Incident handling, CSF 2.0
CSF 2.0 has six Functions to address concurrently, in no implied order; this walk-through picks outcomes from Detect, Respond, Recover, Identify and Govern.
01 Detect
- 01Detect: adverse event analysis (DE.AE)DatasetPotentially adverse events are analysed to detect cybersecurity incidents. Information is correlated from multiple sources.
- 02Declare and triage (DE.AE-08, RS.MA-02)GateIncidents are declared when adverse events meet the defined incident criteria. Incident reports are triaged and validated.
02 Respond
- 03Respond: incident analysis (RS.AN)ModelInvestigations establish what has taken place and the root cause. Records of the investigation keep their integrity and provenance.
- 04Respond: incident mitigation (RS.MI)Step · Service agencyActivities prevent expansion of an event and mitigate its effects. Incidents are contained and eradicated.
- 05Respond: reporting and communication (RS.CO)StepResponse is coordinated with internal and external stakeholders as laws, regulations or policies require. Stakeholders are notified.
03 Recover
- 06Recover: incident recovery plan execution (RC.RP)StepRestoration is performed to restore availability. The integrity of backups and other restoration assets is verified before use.
04 Improve and govern
- 07Identify: improvement (ID.IM)StepImprovements come from evaluations, tests, exercises and operations. Incident response plans are set, shared, maintained and improved.
- 08Govern: oversight (GV.OV)Decision · Service agencyRisk management results inform and adjust the risk strategy. Leadership is responsible and accountable for cybersecurity risk.
Neutral outline of a published external standard or method, from its issuing body. Not a record of operation. Nexus does not perform, certify or approve any step shown. A gate or decision belongs to the party the source names. The six Functions are Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover.
08Connections
Topics that rely on this method.
09Stewardship
Who maintains the method.
Digital Public Infrastructure stewards digital identity and public digital systems for the Consortium and reviews how it is applied across platforms.
10Questions
Questions and answers.
What are the limits of digital identity and public digital systems in this field?
Exclusion errors can deny services to vulnerable groups. Centralised systems create attractive targets and single points of failure.
How are results checked?
Systems are tested for accuracy of matching, resistance to fraud and accessibility. Independent audits review privacy and security controls.
Are the values on this page real?
The data names, roles and checks are real descriptions of practice. The canvas shows a design of the method’s use, not a run; no result is reported here.
Where else is this method applied?
The canonical method page lists every platform that applies it.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
GCRIDigital Public InfrastructureStrategic SystemsExponential Technology
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Digital Public Infrastructure
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