Government

The job identity does in this industry

Government identity is two worlds: workforce IAM for civil servants and citizen identity for benefits, services, and public records. Both operate under prescriptive NIST guidance.

Regulatory floor

NIST SP 800-53 controls and SP 800-63 digital identity guidelines are the baseline. FedRAMP Moderate or High authorization is mandatory for federal SaaS. CISA's Zero Trust Maturity Model guides architecture. State and local governments follow similar patterns with varied rigor.

Use cases by segment

• Federal civilian: PIV credentials, FIDO2 keys, Login.gov federation for citizen services
• DoD: CAC cards, hardened identity workflows, classified network separation
• State and local: Driver's license federation, benefits portals, mobile driver's license rollouts
• Public sector education: Federated identity across institutions, student information systems

Vendor landscape

Okta Government Cloud, Microsoft Entra Government, and Ping Identity are the established workforce IAM choices. Login.gov is the federal citizen IdP. ID.me services many state benefits portals. RSA remains relevant for legacy hard-token environments.

Common pitfalls

• Underestimating FedRAMP authorization timeline (12-24 months)
• Building citizen-facing flows that don't accommodate users without smartphones
• Skipping PIV-D for derived mobile credentials and forcing users to remain at desks
• Treating FIDO2 as optional when NIST AAL3 mandates phishing-resistant authenticators
• Failing to design for accessibility — government identity systems serve everyone

Outlook

mDL (mobile driver's license) rollouts will reshape citizen identity. Federal Zero Trust mandate (OMB M-22-09) drives ZTNA adoption. Expect Login.gov to expand state coverage. AAL3 phishing-resistant authentication becomes the workforce default.