Moving beyond checklists to living digital identity risk management
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ByAdam McBride
July 20, 2026 06:23 PM ET
COMMENTARY | The era of static checklists is over. The future belongs to living, adaptive digital identity programs.
The federal government is racing to deliver secure, seamless digital services to millions of Americans, from veterans seeking healthcare to citizens accessing benefits. Yet our digital identity systems too often rely on outdated frameworks that treat security as a one-time checkbox exercise.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Special Publication 800-63-4 changes that. Released this year, it marks a doctrinal shift from static compliance to a dynamic, holistic Digital Identity Risk Management (DIRM) process.
As someone leading ICAM efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services and co-chairing related working groups, I believe agencies that treat this update as “just another revision” will fall behind. Those that lean in will build identity systems that...
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