Identity for Government: National eIDs, Assurance Levels, and Access
How identity works in the public sector: national eID schemes and citizen login, identity assurance levels under NIST 800-63 and eIDAS, workforce credentials like PIV, and the accessibility and inclusion obligations unique to government.
- Government identity spans two very different populations: citizens (served increasingly by national eID schemes and government login portals) and the public-sector workforce (secured with high-assurance credentials such as PIV and CAC).
- Assurance level is the organizing concept. Frameworks such as NIST SP 800-63 and eIDAS define graded levels of identity proofing and authentication strength, and services must match the level to the sensitivity of what they protect.
- Government carries obligations most private-sector systems do not: legal accessibility requirements, an inclusion mandate to serve people without smartphones or documents, and heightened transparency and data-protection duties.
Government identity is a category of its own. It serves entire populations rather than customers, it answers to law rather than to conversion metrics, and it carries duties of inclusion and accessibility that private-sector systems can ignore. It also spans two very different problems: letting citizens prove who they are online, and securing the people who run the state. See the government vertical page for the broader view.
Two populations, two problems
Citizens. The trend worldwide is toward national eID schemes and central government login portals, so a person can authenticate once and reach many public services. Implementations range from smart national ID cards to mobile eID apps and digital wallets. Our digital IDs directory catalogs these schemes country by country, and standards such as eIDAS 2 and the EU digital identity wallet are pushing the field toward selective-disclosure wallets.
Workforce. Public-sector staff, especially in defense and federal agencies, are secured with high-assurance credentials such as PIV and CAC smart cards, which provide strong, phishing-resistant authentication tied to a vetted identity.
Assurance level is the organizing idea
The concept that structures government identity is assurance. Frameworks define graded levels of confidence and require services to match the level to the sensitivity of what they protect. In the US, NIST SP 800-63 separates identity-proofing assurance (how sure you are the person is who they claim) from authentication assurance (how strong the login is). In the EU, eIDAS defines low, substantial, and high levels. Reading public information may need little assurance; filing taxes or reaching health records needs a lot. Designing to the right level, rather than the maximum everywhere, is what keeps services both secure and usable.
Duties private systems do not have
- Accessibility. Government services are legally required to be usable by people with disabilities, which constrains authentication design in ways a consumer app is not.
- Inclusion. A public service cannot exclude the citizen without a smartphone, without a passport, or without reliable connectivity. That forces alternative proofing and login paths, not just the digital-native happy path.
- Transparency and data protection. Public trust and law both demand clear data handling, minimization, and often the ability to audit how identity data is used.
Security posture
Government is a high-value target, so the workforce side leans on phishing-resistant authentication, zero trust, and strict access governance, while cloud services frequently must meet authorization regimes such as FedRAMP in the US. The regulations hub tracks the relevant obligations by country.
Choosing a platform
Public-sector selection weighs assurance-level support, standards conformance (NIST 800-63, eIDAS, and the emerging wallet standards), accessibility, and authorization regimes alongside the usual capabilities. The best identity tools for government ranking compares options for this vertical. Government identity succeeds when it is trusted, inclusive, and proportionate: strong where the stakes are high, and never so heavy that it shuts eligible people out of services they are entitled to use.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the identity requirements for government services?
- Government identity must authenticate citizens accessing public services, often through national eID schemes or a central government login, at an assurance level matched to the sensitivity of the service. It must also secure the public-sector workforce with high-assurance credentials, meet accessibility and inclusion obligations so no eligible person is excluded, and comply with sector security frameworks such as NIST 800-63 in the US or eIDAS in the EU.
- What is an identity assurance level?
- An identity assurance level is a graded measure of how confident a service can be in an identity, defined by frameworks such as NIST SP 800-63 (which separates identity-proofing assurance, IAL, from authentication assurance, AAL) and the EU's eIDAS (low, substantial, high). A service selects the level required by the sensitivity of what it protects, so viewing public information needs less assurance than filing taxes or accessing health records.
- What are PIV and CAC credentials?
- PIV (Personal Identity Verification) and CAC (Common Access Card) are high-assurance smart-card credentials used by US federal civilian agencies and the Department of Defense respectively. They combine a physical card, cryptographic certificates, and biometrics to provide strong, phishing-resistant authentication for the government workforce, and they map to the higher authentication assurance levels in NIST 800-63.
- How do national digital ID schemes work?
- National digital ID schemes give citizens a government-issued digital identity they can use to prove who they are and log in to public and sometimes private services. Implementations vary from smart national ID cards to mobile eID apps and digital wallets, and many are moving toward selective-disclosure wallet models under standards such as eIDAS 2 in the EU. Our digital IDs directory catalogs schemes country by country.