Verizon announced today an important milestone in the Open Identity arena. Verizon announced that it is the first ever identity provider to achieve a Level 3 US Government certification in providing identity credentials and access management to relying parties. The importance of building a standardized framework that protects valuable personal data from Internet security risks is being recognized and addressed on a global scale and national level. Verizon has established itself as a leader that is building a foundation for an open and secure Internet-identity ecosystem that people and business can trust. Beyond providing a safeguard for digital identities, certified identity providers will help speed conversations, interactions and transactions for people, businesses and relying parties now and in the future. As one of the pioneers in building the trust frameworks, Verizon’s leadership as an identity provider is at the heart of building this new identity ecosystem. Verizon was one of the founding members of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) an organization that now includes the leaders in internet, telco and data aggregation industries. Today’s password-focused website login process is unsafe and risky and has led to personal information and data being compromised through phishing and hacking attacks on weak systems. The potentially devastating consequences associated with the hijacking and theft of digital identities highlights the need for a trusted and certified framework that relying parties can depend on for identity authentication. OIX, its member companies and Verizon aim to provide an open framework that standardizes the security, privacy, and operation policies of identity service providers that people, businesses and governments can trust. The Internet identity ecosystem is quickly evolving with companies playing many different roles. The OIX is focused on the roles of attribute providers, identity providers, and relying parties. Verizon is playing an important role as a leader and advocate for OpenID. We congratulate Verizon on this significant achievement.