Our cyber identities are highly important assets, assuring us all access to the right places, resources and personal information. It’s something that’s on the radar for us all, especially those at the forefront of building digital platforms and software. So, with its recent expansion to offices in Bristol, ForgeRock – software vendors and creators of an open-source identity platform – is hosting its annual UnSummit gathering in the city this March for identity geeks to come together and share knowledge and ideas.
“The event can best be described as a ‘geek-out’… where all topics about identity can be discussed and debated”
Joanne Mavridis, ForgeRock’s Senior Marketing Manager tells us: “The event can best be described as a ‘geek-out’. Intended to be a forum where discussion around any and all topics about identity can be discussed and debated.
“From standards and regulation to programming techniques and capabilities, the breadth and depth of the topics are limited only by the participants.”
Identity innovation
UnSummit, which was held in ForgeRock’s San Francisco office last year, is completely free and open to all – with a particular emphasis on those interested in getting to know ForgeRock’s identity platform.
As identity becomes more and more technically advanced, more and more of us are getting used to technology such as ‘touchID’ fingerprinting and multi-factor methods. For many of these processes, the stages of authentication (providing the right information to the right person i.e. through username/password) and authorisation (ensuring the person who has accessed the data is entitled to it i.e. through secondary confirmation via a mobile phone) are being used increasingly and in tandem for added security.
ForgeRock’s Vice President in Global Partner Enablement Allan Foster explains: “Our platform is a packaging of all the of aspects of working with identity to deliver a service that a ‘website’ will need to provide a secure and useful service to consumers. Tools to help respect privacy, get a user’s consent to use specific data and to protect it from malicious use.”
Joanne adds: “Although the majority of the topics at UnSummit will be identity related, and around the ForgeRock Identity Platform, there are many topics that will be of interest to newbies and veterans alike.
“[We] focus on discussion rather than presentation, and interaction with people who are actually working with real use cases”
“ForgeRock has a history of driving technical discussion and innovation around identity. We have had both Commercial Summits, as well as the more technical focused Un-Conferences in San Francisco, New York and Sydney.
“We try to build a space where technical discussions and interactions can be shared with and by people involved in identity. With a focus on discussion rather than presentation, and interaction with people who are actually working with real use cases, we strive to build a deeper understanding of some of the challenges involved. Attendees also help drive the content and topics they would like to discuss, in a democratic forum, following the guiding principles of OpenSpaces.”
UnSummit Bristol will be held at ForgeRock’s Bristol offices at Queen’s Square on 2 March at 9am – 5pm. Find out more about the event and sign-up for free here. You can also stay up to date with ForgeRock’s latest news and events by following them on Twitter here: @ForgeRock.
