Datasheet

Windows CardSpace
Windows CardSpace is a next-generation identity platform. CardSpace is built on open standards and
tries to succeed where Microsoft Passport failed. Passport was not able to live up to its grand promises
basically because it required your personal information to be stored with Microsoft. CardSpace reverses
the location of personal information to your local machine in
identity cards. An easy analogy is to con-
sider the cards carried in your wallet, such a driver’s license or library card. Whenever you get pulled
over, your license acts as proof of who you are. This is because the card was issued by the state you live
in, and the friendly police officer trusts the state, not you.
CardSpace uses this same concept. An identity provider issues identities that are trusted by other sites
on the Internet. For example, a credit card company could issue an identity to you that represents a
physical card you already have. When you purchase something from an online store, you could present
the issued card instead of signing in with a user name and password as you would traditionally. The
benefits are twofold in a situation like this. First, you do not have to maintain a user name and password
combination for every site you frequent. Second, there is an added layer of security because you are not
actually entering credit card information. Rather, because the online store trusts the identity issued by
the credit card company, it can use it to take care of the payment details.
In addition to the identity cards issues by third-party providers, you can create self-issued cards. This
enables you to create a lightweight identity on a site that requires you to register to obtain access to con-
tent, such as a forum. Then the site, if it chose to implement CardSpace, could allow you to authenticate
by presenting your self-issued card. This again has the benefit of not requiring multiple user names and
passwords. In addition, you can create multiple self-issued cards. This enables you to have identities
with varying levels of detail for different types of sites. Figure 1-6 shows an example of a self-issued card
in Windows Vista.
Figure 1-6
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Chapter 1: An Introduction to Workflow and Windows Workflow Foundation
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