Understanding Windows CardSpace: An Introduction to the Concepts and Challenges of Digital Identities

Windows CardSpace empowers organizations to prevent identity theft and systematically address a broad spectrum of security and privacy challenges. Understanding Windows CardSpaceis the first insider’s guide to Windows CardSpace and the broader topic of identity management for technical and business professionals. Drawing on the authors’ unparalleled experience earned by working with the CardSpace product team and by implementing state-of-the-art CardSpace-based systems at leading enterprises, it offers unprecedented insight into the realities of identity management: from planning and design through deployment.

Part I introduces the fundamental concepts of user-centered identity management, explains the context in which Windows CardSpace operates, and reviews the problems CardSpace aims to solve. Next, the authors walk through CardSpace from a technical standpoint, describing its technologies, elements, artifacts, operations and development practices, and usage scenarios. Finally, they carefully review the design and business considerations associated with architecting solutions based on CardSpace or any other user-centered identity management

system. Coverage includes

• The limitations of current approaches to authentication and identity management
• Detailed information on advanced Web services
• The Identity Metasystem, the laws of identity, and the ideal authentication system
• Windows CardSpace: What it is, how it works, and how developers and managers can use it in their organizations
• CardSpace technology: user experience, Information Cards, private desktops, and integration with .NET 3.5 and Windows Vista
• CardSpace implementation: from HTML integration through federation, Web services integration, and beyond
• Adding personal card support to a website: a detailed, scenario-based explanation
• Choosing or becoming an identity provider: opportunities, business impacts, operational issues, and pitfalls to avoid
• Using CardSpace to leverage trust relationships and overcome phishing

Whether you’re a developer, security specialist, or business decision-maker, this book will answer your most crucial questions about identity management, so you can protect everything that matters: your people, your assets, your partners, and your customers.

Foreword xv

Preface xviii

Part I Setting the Context

Chapter 1: The Problem 3

  The Advent of Profitable Digital Crime 4

  Passwords: Ascent and Decline 29

  The Babel of Cryptography 36

  The Babel of Web User Interfaces 79

  Summary 84

Chapter 2: Hints Toward a Solution 87

  A World Without a Center 89

  The Seven Laws of Identity 92

  The Identity Metasystem 110

  Trust 115

  WS-* Web Services Specifications: The Reification of the Identity Metasystem 136

  Presenting Windows CardSpace 161

  Summary 164

Part II THE TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 3: Windows CardSpace 169

  CardSpace Walkthroughs 169

  Is CardSpace Just for Websites? 175

  System Requirements 176

  What CardSpace Provides 177

  A Deeper Look at Information Cards 184

  Features of the CardSpace UI 204

  Common CardSpace Management Tasks 210

  User Experience Changes in .NET Framework 3.5 218

  Summary 221

Chapter 4: CardSpace Implementation 223

  Using CardSpace in the Browser 224

  Federation with CardSpace 248

  CardSpace and Windows Communication Foundation 252

  CardSpace Without Web Services 262

  Summary 268

Chapter 5: Guidance for a Relying Party 269

  Deciding to Be a Relying Party 270

  Putting CardSpace to Work 274

  Privacy and Liability 299

  Summary 302

Part III PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Chapter 6: Identity Consumers 305

  Common Misconceptions about Becoming an Identity Provider 306

  Criteria for Selecting an Identity Provider 309

  Relying on an IP 315

  Migration Issues 320

  Summary 321

Chapter 7: Identity Providers 323

  Uncovering the Rationale for Becoming an Identity Provider 324

  What Does an Identity Provider Have to Offer? 334

  Walking a Mile in the User’s Shoes 338

  An Organization’s Identity 341

  Summary 342

Index 343