In today’s always-connected world, identity plays an important factor in security

May 9, 2012 13:46 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing has released a new video in the already popular Cloud Fundamentals Video Series, this time focusing on identity as an important factor when it comes to security.

Although one of the basic factors of security, you cannot be always sure of what you are connecting to when it comes to various destinations on the Internet.

In fact, Tim Rains, Director, Trustworthy Computing, notes in a recent blog post that one of the laws of identity states that “the Internet was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to.”

“Since this essential capability is missing, everyone offering an Internet service has had to come up with a workaround. It is fair to say that today’s Internet, absent a native identity layer, is based on a patchwork of identity one-offs.”

In today’s always-connected world, users take advantage of various means to stay in touch with one another at all times, including social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, or advanced smartphones that can get people on the Internet in a matter of seconds.

Beside this, there are also cloud services that are being increasingly adopted by various companies and end-users out there.

“Identity is an important ingredient in each of these scenarios as well as at the intersection of them,” Tim Rains notes.

“Many customers would like to be able to use multiple identities, including those used on social networks and those in their organization’s on-premise Active Directory, to access public and private cloud services from any device they choose to use.”

In the latest installment of the Cloud Fundamentals Video Series, Rains discusses the problem of identity with Norm Barber, principle program manager in Microsoft’s Active Directory Engineering Division.

The video, embedded below, will offer you the possibility to watch a discussion on the externalization of IT and the consumerization of IT, as well as on “the importance of identity as more and more organizations grapple with these trends.”