Test Suite Enables Organizations to Self-Certify

theOpenID Foundation announced the OpenID Connect Certification Test Suite – a test suite that enables organizations to certify that their OpenID Connect deployments conform to the OpenID Connect standard. The test suite was developed as open source software product in cooperation between Europe’s GÉANT Project under a grant to promote international interoperability of digital identity systems, the OpenID Foundation, and Umeå University in Sweden.

With the OpenID Connect Conformance Test Suite an organization can test and self-certify their OpenID Connect deployment as part of the OpenID Certification program to verify that it conforms to defined OpenID Connect profiles. The OpenID Certification program is a formal public declaration by an entity that its specific identified deployment of a product or service has passed the conformance tests developed by the OpenID Foundation and conforms to specified conformance profiles of the OpenID Connect protocol. Once a test is successfully completed, the entity issues a declaration of compliance and once accepted by the OIDF.

“On behalf of the OpenID Foundation and its members, a sincere ‘thank you’ to our colleagues at Umeå University and the GÉANT Project for the close collaboration on the successful deployment of the OpenID Conformance Test Suite,” said Nat Sakimura, OpenID Foundation Chairman and Senior Researcher, Nomura Research Institute. “This global platform will provide transparency and assurance that the Internet identity services of certifying organizations conform to the OpenID Connect standard.”

“Our work together demonstrates that joint operational and technical collaboration from Europe, North America, Asia, and South America significantly advances the adoption of user centric open identity standards,” said Licia Florio, GÉANT Project Activity Leader for Identity and Trust Technologies for GÉANT services. “We are well positioned to foster further adoption of the OpenID Connect standard and significantly increase certification of identity trust frameworks in Europe – and globally.”

“Important for all standards is verifying that an implementation complies with the standard or the special profile of the standard,” said Ali Foroutan-Rad, Director for ITS, Umeå University. “Given the advances in identity and e-commerce systems, it was important to develop a web service to truly test identity systems using a freely-available online protocol testing service.” 

The OpenID Connect Conformance Test Suite, hosted by Symantec, was used by industry leaders Google, Microsoft, ForgeRock, Nomura Research Institute, Ping Identity, and PayPal in the first phase of the OpenID Connect Certification program. The next phase adds relying party certification and makes OpenID Connect self-certification and registration available to OIDF members in good standing starting in May 2015, with a roadmap to make the OpenID Connect Certification program and the OIXnet Registry generally available in January 2016.

About GÉANT

The GÉANT Association is the leading collaboration on network and related infrastructure and services for the benefit of research and education, contributing to Europe's economic growth and competitiveness. The organisation develops, delivers and promotes advanced network and associated e-infrastructure services, and supports innovation and knowledge-sharing amongst its members, partners and the wider research and education networking community.

It is owned by its core membership of 36 European national research and education network (NREN) organisations and NORDUnet, which participates on behalf of five Nordic NRENs. Associates include commercial organisations and multi-national research infrastructures and projects.

The GÉANT Association was formed on 7 October 2014, when TERENA and DANTE joined forces. The GÉANT Project is a major area of the association’s work and the association is proud to have adopted the GÉANT name.

About Umeå University

Umeå University was founded in 1965 as fifth university in Sweden. With about 4 500 employees and over 34 000 students, a large number of international projects and other forms of cooperation in the research and education field, Umeå University has a solid foundation in international area with a strong international and multicultural presence with students, teachers and researchers from all over the world.

Umeå University is, through the department ICT Services and System Development (ITS), the central IT development organization for HEIs in Sweden. ITS has been in the international forefront of developing administrative systems for the Swedish higher education sector for the past 25 years. With a staff of over 200 IT-professionals, most with long experience and broad expertise, ITS works with a broad field of activities such as IT operations and support to systems development, professional testing, etc. ITS is managing projects of all sizes. Maintaining the Swedish national student information system (Ladok) and the Swedish national admissions system (NyA) are two main missions ITS performs. Development of the next generation of national student information system in Sweden (Ladok3) is one of the biggest projects ITS is involved in.

About The OpenID Foundation

The OpenID Foundation is an international non-profit organization of individuals and companies committed to enabling, promoting and protecting OpenID technologies. Formed in June 2007, the foundation serves as a public trust organization representing the open community of developers, vendors, and users. The OIDF assists the community by providing needed infrastructure and help in promoting and supporting expanded adoption of OpenID technologies. This entails managing intellectual property and brand marks as well as fostering viral growth and global participation in the proliferation of OpenID.