Identification Management - A Key cornerstone for Trust in Digital Identity

Identification Management vs Digital Identity and Identity Management: Why the Distinction Matters for Security and Trust

When it comes to security, privacy and trust, the terms digital identity, identity management, and identification management are often used interchangeably—but they serve distinct, critical roles.

Who am I?

Identification Management: This is about how we prove who someone is. Focusing on robust processes for establishing and verifying identities, it ensures every step—from collecting Entity Information to binding Authenticators—is performed to a high assurance level. Under NZ Identification Standards, key assurance pillars include:

• Information Assurance (IA): Accuracy and quality of the Entity Information provided

• Binding Assurance (BA): Confirming a reliable link between Entity Information and the actual Entity

• Authentication Assurance (AA): Evaluating the strength and control of Authenticators used to assert identity

Identification management deals with the rigor of the verification processes themselves; it is not just a technical concern but an operational one essential for trust. It is also not limited to one particular channel and applies to both physical and digital channels.

Identity Management: Broader in scope, this discipline encompasses the whole lifecycle—creation, maintenance, usage, and deactivation—of digital identities. It’s the overarching governance and operational framework for digital identity within systems and organisations. Beyond identification, it manages access control, provisioning, compliance, and ongoing integrity and privacy of identities.

Digital Identity: This is the what: the digital persona—attributes, credentials, and authenticators—assigned to an individual or entity for online interactions. NZ standards define a credential as containing information and an authenticator specifically bound to an entity.

Why Does This Distinction Matter?

• Identification management is the bedrock for reliable digital identities; it ensures you can trust who someone claims to be.

• Identity management governs the operational use of those identities, ensuring lifecycle processes and privacy remain intact.

• Digital Identity is the representation—what is actually used for transactions and interactions. Thus , the integrity of information (via identification management), security and privacy is paramount.

Yah! Verified Credentials controlled by me.

Think of an Entity as anyone or anything wanting to be recognised—it could be a person (not yet the actual 'kiwi' birdy) or a busy local business. When the person or company need to prove who they are, they use their credentials (physical or digital), safely tucked away in their trusty Physical or Mobile Wallet. On the other side, the Relying Party—like a friendly café or utility provider—checks those creds and says, "Sweet as, you’re all good to go!" It’s all about making sure everyone gets their fair dinkum spot in the digital world without any mucking about.

How Systems Thinking Limited Can Help

STL brings a systems mindset to these challenges. We have professionals with expertise in IT Security and Privacy Consulting, Identification standards, Third Party Assurance Assessments, Enterprise Architecture, and Digital Solutions, we can:

• Guide organisations in mapping and improving identification management processes according to NZ standards

• Design and implement robust assurance frameworks (IA, BA, AA) as per legislation, regulations and rules to support organisations going for formal audited processes (see note below for formal independent evaluation)

• Help organisations bridge the gap between foundational identification controls and broader digital identity lifecycle management

• Support third-party assessments and risk management to ensure trustworthy identities and compliance

In summary, distinguishing identification management from identity management and digital identity is core to establishing trust, privacy, and security in today’s digital systems.

Please note: Formal Independent evaluation can only be done by evaluators listed by Digital Identity Trust Framework Authority (TFA). Please refer TFA site for the latest list of independent evaluators and processes. This post is limited to raising awareness of Identification Management and its differences with more popular ICT terms.