On A-Select and Federated Identity

In the current web oriented information technology world, an increasingly large number of services take place via the web. These web services often require the user to identify himself in order to receive personalized information or services. The result is an increase in the amount of authentication procedures a user must deal with. One of the methods to cope with this, is using federated identity management.

Federated identity management provides the framework for the organizations to implement methods that reduce the frequency in which users must authenticate. Single sign-on is a prominent method, and is often used in federations.
With single sign-on, a user needs only one authentication procedure, in order to be allowed access to resources from all federation members. One of the initiatives that allows for single sign-on in a federation environment is Alfa
& Ariss’ core product “A-Select”, which is also the target system of this thesis.

Alfa & Ariss are keen on extending their collective knowledge on the subject of federated identitymanagement and in particular on the effect of a broader adoption of federated identity management in A-Select. Gaining this knowledge is necessary to extend A-Select in such a way that it can cope with future challenges of working in federated environments. The required information is mainly divided into two fields which are, in short, the basics of federations and the problems that are typically occur in federated identity management environments. I have been researching the topics by literature survey and working out a concrete scenario to pinpoint the actual issues discussed in the literature.

The basics of federated identity management are worked out in fine detail. The illustrated problems are illustrated extensively and where possible, solved up to a certain extend. In general, I am convinced that this document can be a source of knowledge that helps the development of A-Select a great deal.