“Over the last few decades, identity and access management trust federations have enabled students, faculty, researchers, and staff on college and university campuses to access a wide range of online services and resources using a single set of credentials issued by their home institution,” Moorooney said. “ 2026 will be an inflection point.”
He notes that OpenID Federation is already gaining traction as a secure, efficient way to manage access and support stronger identity proofing. For R&E IT leaders, it represents a path to more scalable, high-assurance identity governance for global research collaboration — and other use cases such as academic credentials, healthcare, and government.
“I predict that this will be the year that IT leaders across the higher education and research community here in the U.S. are actively exploring the implications, opportunities, and risks of adopting OpenID Federation,” he added.
As interest grows and institutions begin evaluating next steps, Morooney encourages a coordinated, R&E community-driven approach.
“Just as the higher education and research community built InCommon together to enable the identity and access needs of their institutions, this next evolution of federation models requires the same collective effort and renewed commitment to explore what’s possible — together.”
Read the full story in Campus Technology, 2026 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in Higher Education
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