Technology Update

OpenID Goes Mobile

WASHINGTON — December 15, 2010 — Over the last two decades, wireless technologies have changed how billions of people around the world live, work, and play. Today, early adopters are starting to reserve movie tickets, do banking transactions, and shop online on their smartphones, making security paramount.

Being a lightweight and distributed protocol OpenID is ideally suited for the mobile industry. 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, recognizes the importance of embedding advanced security solutions in the wireless standards. The organization has recently begun new study work on services and security aspects for the use and integration of OpenID, as an identity management and single sign-on (SSO) scheme, for operators of mobile networks. This begins the process of standardization of methods for integrating OpenID in mobile networks, leveraging the trust framework of mobile operators, with a significant number of supporting companies.

In parallel, several leading wireless companies have been developing new technologies for secure and personalized deployment of OpenID for mobile devices, bringing higher levels of security assurance in the emerging trust framework, which is well aligned with the thrust of the OpenID Foundation/Society.