Kantara first accredited to certify UK digital ID providers under DIATF

The Kantara Initiative has cemented its role in the UK’s digital identity ecosystem as the first conformity assessment body (CAB) accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to certify organizations against the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF).

The accreditation comes against the backdrop of confusion over the role of the DIATF, and the extent to which the private sector service providers it certified against it will be in direct competition with the government’s national digital ID.

The UK’s Office for Digital Identity and Attributes (OfDIA) says the accreditation is a major milestone for the Kingdom’s digital verification service (DVS).

“Thanks to Kantara’s accreditation, people can be reassured that digital IDs offered by private companies to help them prove their identity are safe, secure, and sustainable — in turn helping an industry which is already worth £2 billion,” says Minister for Digital Government and Data Ian Murray.

The accreditation confirms Kantara’s competence and consistency in assessing the compliance of services with DIATF requirements in alignment with ISO/IEC 17065:2012, according to the announcement. Independent assessors with deep technical expertise completed a rigorous three-stage evaluation of Kantara’s program to grant the accreditation.

“This has been a long-time goal for the organisation and having reached this important milestone, we look forward to continuing to build Kantara’s global leadership in the area of digital identity,” Kantara Board of Directors Chair Andrew Johnston says.

Kantara already plays a major role in the U.S. digital identity ecosystem, evaluating conformance to NIST’s Identity Assurance Levels (IALs) and Authenticator Assurance Levels (AALs).

A long and winding road (that leads to 2 doors?)

OfDIA says the decision to begin accrediting CABs reflects the framework’s consistency with international standards. Having reached this stage, the government is now ready to implement the DVS measures included in the Data (Use and Access) Act.

The UKAS and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have been running a pilot for digital verification services certification since 2022 with Kantara and BSI Assurance UK as the first two CABs working towards accreditation. The program has been somewhat fraught, however, as AVID Certification Services and NOA signed up and have subsequently left the program, despite DSIT’s original goal of six CAB candidates and statements that it wanted eight candidates.

During that time, Kantara certified Yoti as an Orchestration Service Provider (OSP) under the DIATF in August, and Orchestrating Identity as an OSP and an Identity Service Provider (IDSP) in June.

OfDIA and DSIT published guidance for CABs in July in anticipation of the DIATF’s graduation to production status.

Article Topics

conformity assessment body (CAB)  |  DIATF certification  |  digital identity  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  Kantara  |  UK digital ID  |  United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)