Okta Joins the ID2020 Alliance

If you’re reading this on any kind of digital device, you probably use various forms of digital identity on a regular basis. From accessing healthcare to participating in democracy to protecting our finances, modern life requires identity. 

For most of us, it’s impossible to imagine how we’d live our lives without verifiable identification. Yet, according to the World Bank, that’s the situation for more than one billion people around the world. This issue disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, but globalization is making the world smaller every day, which means that problems of this scale increasingly affect us all.

According to USAID, “There may be no single factor that affects a person’s ability to share in the gains of global development as much as having an official identity”. 

That’s why Okta is proud to have recently joined the ID2020 Alliance, a cross-sector effort of global organizations committed to an ethical approach to digital ID. ID2020 plays a critical role in the evolving digital ID ecosystem by convening a diverse set of stakeholders to develop standards for the design and evaluation of digital identity implementations. 

“We are delighted to welcome Okta to the ID2020 Alliance,” said executive director, Dakota Gruener. “If properly designed and ethically implemented, digital ID can be the key that unlocks previously inaccessible rights and opportunities for hundreds of millions of people globally. ID2020 and Okta share a common vision; to ensure that those keys are available to everyone.” 

Solving identity challenges unlocks critical resources, creates new markets, and helps protect the most vulnerable people. It’s no exaggeration to say that identity changes the world.

To learn more about this issue, watch a discussion we hosted at Oktane21 on the future of digital ID which featured ID2020 Executive Director Dakota Gruener in addition to leaders from USAID, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Kenya Red Cross.