The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has requested a call for comments on its digital identity guidelines in four documents in order to improve security and privacy details.

NIST is a physical sciences laboratory and non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology to enhance economic security and quality of life.

The documents that are being requested for feedback include the Special Publication (SP) 800-63-3 Digital Identity Guidelines, SP 800-63A Enrollment and Identity Proofing, SP 800-63B Authentication and Lifecycle Management, and SP 800-63C Federation and Assertions, each of which outlines digital identity and access management resources and assurance levels. 

The organization is seeking feedback on topics such as identity proofing, authentication and federation, the use of SMS and PSTN for authentication, security and performance capabilities, approaches to support remote identity proofing, and other key areas that address the digital identity landscape. NIST has also written that it will integrate changes into the guidelines based on what both the industry and government “deem most significant for revision.”

These changes are a response to a policy memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) asking federal agencies to enhance identity and access management capabilities and for NIST to update its guidelines in addition to its NIST Cybersecurity Framework and Privacy Framework.

NIST is accepting comments and feedback up until August 10, 2020. Comments can be submitted to dig-comments-RFC@nist.gov.