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Digital Identity MarketScape
In exploring the digital identity market, it’s clear that most descriptions of digital identity align with a business function, or a core subset of technologies without even looking at the broader construct of digital identity's role in emerging technologies, models, and businesses.
In fact, up until recently, digital identity was limited to only digital elements which were directly associated with biological beings and completely ignored digital assets such as servers, web services, and more. As we have evolved our thinking, we see that every interaction and/or collaboration in the digital world predicates the existence of some form of unique identity and that digital identity goes far beyond simple management.
Here at 1414 Ventures, we looked at the space, and we came up with 50 unique elements of digital identity. These elements touch every industry and often form the foundation of modern interactions.
Digital Identity Elements
We have identified the following digital identity elements. While many of them can be applied independently in digital collaboration, they often are combined to create new experiences and provide new value to the new data economy (see below for the definitions of each elements).
The digital identity space is certainly one to watch, especially in the near future. Currently, the estimated value of the overall market is USD 961 billion and is projected to grow to USD 1.333 trillion by 2025. Scroll over each element to see how each one contributes to the market.
Digital Identity Opportunity Matrix
*All values are estimations of the market size as of 2024.
Identity Access Management [IAM]
A set of tools and/or policies that ensure the user’s right of appropriate access to technologies or services.
Authentication [AUTH]
Proofing and verifying an assertion of identity by a person, thing, or transaction.
Directory Services [DS]
​A system that maps and distributes data services such as identity to requesters.
Privileged Access Management [PAM]
A system that regulates the accounts of users, objects, and services that have elevated permissions.
Customer Identity Access Management [CIAM]
An identity access management system that focuses on customer relationships, their management, and access to services.
Self-Sovereign Identity [SSI]
A mechanism or approach that shifts the responsibility and control of an entity's identity to themselves, increasing trust.
Multi-factor Authentication [MFA]
A second-factor verification of identity that is usually in the form of “something I have, something I know."
Adaptive Authentication [AA]
A risk-based model for authentication often referred to as “Step-up Authentication” in which different authentication responses are introduced based on predetermined factors.
Physical Identity Access Management [PIAM]
An identifier of entities and regulating access to physical resources.
Identity Federation [IF]
Tools and techniques that allow the sharing of identity and/or authentication services across independent services, applications, and devices.
Decentralized Identity [DI]
A trust framework in which traditional identifiers are replaced with rich identifiers that are independent, self-owned, and enablers of exchanging data.
Role Management [RM]
A framework that allows management of users’ roles and entitlements and enables least privilege capabilities.
Password-less Authentication [PA]
Leverage of digital profiles and fingerprinting capabilities to enable authentication of users while reducing friction associated with authentication.
Identity Automation & Orchestration [IAO]
A service to automate and orchestrate the deployment, management, and configuration of identity solutions and their integration.
Identity Verification [IV]
The verification of a user’s identity through various external and internal tooling.
Know Your Customer [KYC]
The act of gathering information for each digital identity related to financial services banking requirements.
Know Your Business [KYB]
The act of gathering diligence on companies and businesses to verify their validity and trust.
Identity Proofing [IP]
The act of verifying a user's identity, usually at the time of instantiation of the identity.
Background Screening [BS]
Often a deep screen of a user's identity to ensure that there are no risks associated with the identity. Background Screening is typically done to prevent deep fraud activities or identify prior criminal behavior.
Anti-Money Laundering [AML]
Technology that combines a number of supporting technologies such as “Know Your Customer” to prevent money laundering activities.
Identity and Document Verification [IDV]
Verification that the identity and the digital document signature are authentic; important in the verification of legal documentation.
Biometrics [BIO]
Using individual attributes of a biological nature to affect the identification of an individual or verify a user's identity.
Fraud Prevention Risk Management [FPRM]
A collection of activities that leverage identity intelligence and other tools to prevent fraud or escalate risk intelligence regarding a digital identity or transaction.
Identity Theft Protection [ITP]
A series of services/capabilities focused on monitoring and remediating attempted digital identity thefts.
User Entity & Behavioral Analytics [UEBA]
The correlation of user identity and their behaviors to profile users and understand anomalous behaviors.
Transaction Detection [TD]
Identifying activities as they relate to digital identity and their utilization or dependency to conduct such transactions.
Identity Governance & Administration [IGA]
The management of the digital identity life-cycle throughout its phases such as creation, transformation, and termination.
Phishing and Social Media [PSM]
The management: detection and prevention of threats which are implemented through social or collaborative channels.
Bring Your Own Identity [BYOI]
The act of a user introducing their self-sovereign identity into a security ecosystem by virtue of federation or similar technologies.
Alternative Credential & Financial Identity [ACFI]
Leverage of tools to create a valid artificial representation of a digital identity or financial identity to prevent theft and enable privacy.
Password Manager [PM]
A centralized technological solution that protects and enables password memory in a secure manner.
Identity Wallet [IW]
A centralized tool for storing various identity-related profiles/inferences in a secure manner controlled by the user.
Data Aggregation & Credit Bureau [DACB]
An entity that collects user identities and assigns a financial value or financial representation of that user.
Badging Service [BMS]
The creation of physical or digital credentials for a verified user.
Consent Management [CM]
The management of user-consent lifecycle, enabling transparency into areas where consent was authorized, de-authorized, or re-authorized.
Digital Signature [DSI]
The act of assigning a digital identifier to an object record that communicates the user's digital authorization.
Credit Scoring [CS]
The act of applying a value to a digital identity based on a set of metrics such as previous behavior.
Micro-Credential Management [MCM]
The management of small or short competency-based recognition components that verify or provide insights into digital identities capabilities.
Certificate Authority [CA]
A centralized store of digital identity certifications that provides and verifies digital identities and services.
Identity Graphing & Resolution [IGR]
A system that maps digital identities, their requisite resolutions, and sometimes entitlements.
Digital Provenance [DP]
A service that can provide verification of the authenticity of a given object or element.
Master Data Management [MDM]
A system where physical and digital services work together to ensure consistency, accuracy, and ownership of digital and physical entities.
Data Privacy [DPR]
Ensures that an individual’s digital data and credentials are protected in accordance to privacy policies and the individual’s control.
Encryption Technologies [ET]
Technologies that enable the obfuscation of data or digital assets by representing an alternative object that can be decoded or encoded by the author or applier of the technology.
Blockchain [BCH]
A ledger-based digital technology that enables duplication and distribution often across a network and often encrypted with an immutable hash.
Payment Wallet [PW]
A digital representation of payments that allows a user to record, review, and analyze transaction history or payment tools.
Tokenization Service [TS]
A service that can provide digital tokens for an object or digital identity quickly.
Transaction Gateway [TG]
A digital proxy service that enables secure transactions through verification, transformation, and monitoring technologies.
Transaction Monitoring [TM]
A service for monitoring transactions and notifying anomalous transactions or transactional behaviors.
Verifiable Credentials [VC]
The creation of credentials that enable the verification of digital identities, often seen in emerging behavioral or biometric identity solutions.
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