InCommon: Trust and Security

Join InCommonUpon joining InCommon, participants can take advantage of the InCommon Federation, the InCommon Assurance Program, and the InCommon Certificate Service.

InCommon Federation

  • supports a common framework for trustworthy shared management of access to on-line resources
  • higher security, economies of scale, and many other benefits
  • single sign-on and privacy protection for users
  • identity providers authenticate, while service providers authorize
  • service providers no longer need to provision identity accounts

InCommon Certificates

InCommon Certificate Service
  • unlimited certificates, including SSL (including extended validation) certificates, client (ersonal) certificates, and code signing certificates
  • one fixed annual fee
  • includes certificates for all of your domains — including professional societies and athletic sites (.edu, .net, .org, .com)
  • Internet2 members receive a 25 percent discount

InCommon Assurance

InCommon Assurance
  • coming in 2012
  • qualifying campuses will support requirements for consistent authentication and identity management
  • reducing risk for service providers by encouraging identity providers to adopt these structured requirements
  • particularly important for financial aid applications and federal research granting agencies
  • InCommon Bronze is roughly equivalent to confidence associated with a common Internet identity
  • InCommon Silver is similar to confidence required for financial transactions

How do participants use the federation?

Case studies provide information about current InCommon Participants and how they are implementing innovative approaches to federating identity and access management systems. See our complete list of case studies.


Certificate Cost Savings

Certificate Service subscribers report substantial savings from InCommon's approach to offer unlimited certificates, covering all of your domains, for one fixed fee.


Get Educated

We have a slew of archived webinars and other materials to help you get up to speed. Our annual CAMPs provide the latest on the federation and certificate service. Our wiki includes a comprehensive technical guide.