About the ID Ecosystem Steering Group

The IDESG and the IDEF Registry

The Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) – a voluntary, public-private partnership built around the National Strategies for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) – was the only independent body dedicated to redefining how people and organizations identify themselves online, by fostering the creation of privacy-enhancing trusted digital identities. We worked to bring all netizens – consumers, educational institutions, online businesses and governments alike – into the thriving marketplace for strong, secure online identity credentials.

We develoeped of the Identity Ecosystem Framework (IDEF), a protective array of standards, best practices and agreements that all IDESG participants attest that they’re in compliance with. What made this different than any effort that’s come before is that it’s wholly grounded in the NSTIC Guiding Principles.

Developed at the behest of the President in April 2011, the NSTIC envisions an online environment where individuals can choose from a variety of credentials to use in lieu of passwords for interactions conducted across the internet. To satisfy the NSTIC – and pass muster with the IDESG’s high standards – all identity solutions must be:

• Privacy-enhancing and voluntary;
• Secure and resilient;
• Interoperable; and
• Cost-effective and easy to use.

The IDEF Registry site was funded under a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce. The contents of the Registry site are the responsibility of the IDESG and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIST or the U.S. Department of Commerce.