The Sixth Annual Symposium of the Information Assurance Advisory Council (IAAC) is on October 20.
The event will see the launch of IAAC’s work on Identity Assurance. Speakers include, Alan Jebson, COO, HSBC Holdings, Katherine Courtney, Identity Card Programme Director, Home Office, Peter Sommer, LSE, and Andrew Miller, MP, Chairman, PITCOM. Hosted by IAAC chair Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, the symposium is supported by HSBC, Nortel and RSA Security.
The aim of the symposium is to develop a useful agenda for progressing Identity Assurance in the UK, and to bring together organisations and people that help shape the future, the IAAC says.
In today’s society, in which more and more business is done on-line, identity is fast becoming the ‘single organising principle’ around which businesses, governments and the citizen interact, the IAAC says. Despite recent political attention and media hype about identity cards, identity theft, on-line fraud and privacy concerns, the debate about the way ahead on "Identity Assurance" is yet to begin, it is claimed.
Businesses are embracing identity management as a route to providing additional layers of security in their organisations and with others in the value chain. For government identity is a key enabling model for the responsible delivery of various e-government services, in particular those highly dependent on the identity of the citizen served, but also in order to better protect society against crime and terrorism. The citizen, meanwhile, must consider how best to ensure his or her interests in a world where "identity" represents "who you are". Typical citizen concerns are often sensationalised in newspapers. Such concerns are nonetheless very genuine and real to the individual, the organisation adds: identity theft may mean someone impersonates you, or pretends to be somebody you think you know and/or trust, which may lead to financial and even social damage. Any action linked to identity could raise privacy concerns, resulting in a lack of trust. Any lack of ability to link identity to individuals may raise security concerns. What checks and balances need to be put in place?
