Method of assessing an organization's network identity capability

• US 7,552,481 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2003
• Issued: 06/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Welsh, Kevin, Moona, Sanjay K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smithers; Matthew B
• Assistant Examiner(s): GERGISO, TECHANE
• Application Number:
  US10/392,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20030177121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,290 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26, 726/2, 713/182
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A method of determining an organization'"'"'s network identity capability. The organization'"'"'s relationships with its employees, customers and business partners, and the organization'"'"'s technological infrastructure, are examined. By examining the organization'"'"'s use of identity data (e.g., data identifying customers, employees), the organization'"'"'s management of that data, and the technology infrastructure can be redesigned to enable better network identity capability. Improved network identity capability enables users'"'"' access to multiple applications or services through a single authentication process (e.g., a single login or sign-on), device-independent access to those applications and services, greater protection for the data, improved business processes and collaborations with business partners, etc.

Claims

1. A method of implementing network identity capability within an organization, the method comprising:

assessing the organization'"'"'s identity capabilities regarding the organization'"'"'s employees, customers, technology infrastructure, and relationships with business partners;

assessing the organization'"'"'s identity requirements regarding the employees, customers, technology infrastructure and relationships with business partners;

redesigning said technology infrastructure to accommodate said identity requirements, wherein said redesigning involves establishing a set of common identity definitions for use within the technology infrastructure, said services and the relationships with said business partners;

enabling role-based access to services offered by the organization;

decoupling users'"'"' identity information from the users'"'"' access to said services, wherein the users include at least the employees and the customers, wherein said decoupling users'"'"' identity comprises enabling users to access a plurality of said services offered by the organization after a single authentication of the users'"'"' identity; and

obtaining user identity information from a trusted identity provider service external to the organization.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said assessing the organization'"'"'s identity capabilities comprises:

determining how user identity information is used within the technology infrastructure, said services and the relationships with said business partners.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more redundant business processes within said services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

centralizing the administration of identity data concerning the users.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said enabling comprises:

implementing policy-driven provisioning of said services offered by the organization.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delegating administration of identity data concerning the users.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing identity-centered collaborations with one or more of said business partners.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises:

establishing trusted communication with said trusted identity service provider.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a trusted relationship with one or more of said business partners, wherein said trusted relationship allows a user to access services of the organization and the one or more business partners with a single authentication of the user'"'"'s identity.

10. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of implementing network identity capability within an organization, the method comprising:

assessing the organization'"'"'s identity capabilities regarding the organization'"'"'s employees, customers, technology infrastructure, and relationships with business partners;

assessing the organization'"'"'s identity requirements regarding the employees, customers, technology infrastructure and relationships with business partners;

redesigning said technology infrastructure to accommodate said identity requirements, wherein said redesigning involves establishing a set of common identity definitions for use within the technology infrastructure, said services and the relationships with said business partners;

enabling role-based access to services offered by the organization;

decoupling users'"'"' identity information from the users'"'"' access to said services, wherein the users include at least the employees and the customers, wherein said decoupling users'"'"' identity comprises enabling users to access a plurality of said services offered by the organization after a single authentication of the users'"'"' identity; and

obtaining user identity information from a trusted identity provider service external to the organization.