Single Network Identity: Holy Grail or Nightmare?

Passwords, SecureID cards, pass cards, yet more passwords? I have corporate accounts with my clients, tens of personal accounts and overwhelming numbers of passwords, not to mention the secure ID cards, bank Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and other accoutrements of the modern connected life. How can we possibly remember all our passwords? Yes, I admit it. I do maintain a written file of all my PINs and passwords.

Is there a better way to keep track of them all? What if I only needed to memorize one password or even better, use a special card that would tell the computer how to access all of my accounts. The technology to allow a single network identity or ?single signon? already exists today. For some it is the holy grail of network security. For others it can be a nightmare. Imagine if your network identity was appropriated or stolen. It can potentially cost thousands of dollars and months of effort to clear your name. Is single network identity a good idea in this age of network security breaches and ID fraud?

The link for this article located at CrossNodes is no longer available.