Modern internet users navigate an increasingly fragmented digital ecosystem dominated by countless applications, services, brands and platforms. Engaging with online offerings often requires selecting and remembering passwords or taking other steps to verify and protect one’s identity. However, following best practices has become incredibly challenging due to various factors.

Identifying Digital Identity Management Problems in Today’s World

Online safety is complex because of aspects within and outside people’s direct control. Recognizing some of them is crucial for appropriately addressing the associated obstacles.

Increased Engagement

Individuals use the internet to schedule medical appointments, renew vehicle registrations, shop for essentials, communicate with friends and much more. These collective activities create comprehensive digital footprints that can compromise privacy unless consumers take decisive preventive measures.

Additionally, research from 2024 revealed respondents maintain an average of 168 passwords for personal accounts. The figure was only 80 when analysts conducted a previous version of the study in February 2020, profiling the rapid rise.

Password Fatigue

Although consumers appreciate the internet’s convenience, the necessity of remembering so many credentials frustrates them, causing some to adopt bad habits to make the task easier. According to one survey, 61% of respondents admitted to reusing passwords across accounts. That was the case even though 38% of consumers previously experienced identity theft.

Management tools can help people keep track of their login details. However, this investigation showed only 32% of participants create secure passwords with these products.

Credential Requirement Shortcomings

Organizational cybersecurity teams can mandate tighter precautions by requiring account creators to meet complexity thresholds when choosing passwords. One of the most common safeguards makes them input long strings containing letters, numbers and special characters.

However, Georgia Tech researchers built an automated password policy assessment tool that examined websites and concluded most entities can improve. One takeaway revealed how three out of every four popular online destinations allow users to use weak credentials not aligned with basic security standards. For example, over half the sites allowed people to create passwords containing six characters or fewer, and three-quarters did not require an eight-character minimum.

Cybercriminals use specialized software to attempt thousands of combinations rapidly until they find the right one. This increasingly common method has caused many security experts to recommend making passwords at least 16 characters long and omitting sequential letters and numbers or easily identifiable personal information.

Regulatory Compliance

The development of state and national security regulations extends authorities’ reach and power. Organizations face substantial fines after suffering breaches or not following best practices to prevent such events. A multiyear investigation found Meta’s data-transfer activities violated the General Data Protection Regulation, requiring the mega tech company to pay $1.3 billion in compensation to affected parties. Other businesses have faced similar rulings after failing to fix faulty frameworks or experiencing malware attacks that compromised user information.

Privacy Preservation

As consumers raise their awareness of cyberattacks and the possibility of becoming victims, some think carefully before registering for accounts or providing details to particular stores, service providers, or other commercial entities. They also realize those possessing that data may sell it, preventing privacy-focused individuals from controlling what happens to their information.

According to a 2024 Deloitte study, 85% of people have actively protected themselves against potential security failures. Additionally, 90% of respondents want companies to let them view and delete the personal material those businesses hold.

Understanding Widely Used Identity Management Frameworks

Adopting popular identity management frameworks can conquer many of these challenges and others likely to arise soon. What are some of the most common options?

Federated Identity

This method connects authorized users to multiple identity management systems across numerous domains and applications, allowing parties to access them all with one set of credentials.

Many enjoy this option without realizing it as they log into new websites using accounts from sites such as Facebook or Gmail due to federated agreements between those entities. Parties considering adopting the framework at their enterprises should seek to reduce friction and consider how to accommodate users who need to access resources while outside the infrastructure.

Decentralized Identity

This user-centric approach enables managing multiple identities without relying on centralized authorities. It provides seamless access with no repeated logins.

Decentralized identity approaches work with distributed technologies, such as the blockchain. Because some industries have yet to adopt them widely, cybersecurity leaders may need to conduct significant research before adopting the framework.

Zero-Trust Architecture

This option lives up to its name by never considering parties as implicitly trustworthy. It subjects everyone to stringent security checks, minimizing exposure to sensitive files or restricted programs. The framework may stop workers from logging into networks on new computers or while traveling. IT teams must know about those differences in advance to prevent lockouts.

Operating in a Complex and Large Online World

The challenges covered here explain why many security professionals view identity management as a daunting aim. Fortunately, the frameworks described above — and others like them — can minimize frequently occurring obstacles, keeping networks, users, and websites safer from attack attempts and breaches.