To combat fraud in digital identities and provide guidelines for digital authentication, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) updated its Digital Identity Guidelines in June 2017 and has provided a digital identity model that represents their updated guidelines with technologies and architectures that are currently available. This article describes the NIST model and compares NIST’s US-minded approach with the European eIDAS-Regulation and its legal framework.

The ultimate aim of regulations like eIDAS is the creation of a true Digital Single Market (DSM). eIDAS plays its role by providing the necessary authentication and trust service tools to address the needs of the DSM. In order to succeed, however, it is necessary to know what exactly each stakeholder in that market needs.

 A Forrester Research survey found that documents with electronic signatures reduced the error rate by 80% and improved productivity by as much as 85%. These are just some of the statistics which highlight the potential disruptive power of technologies like eSignature and eIdentification in transforming digital businesses.

The eIDAS regulation sets the standard for electronic identification, electronic signatures and trust services. It paves the way for delivering financial, public and other services online in a more secure and reliable way than ever before. The eIDAS document and its accompanying guidelines cover the technical aspects in great detail. But what are the guiding principles behind eIDAS?