What does the digital identity managed by an IdP consist of, and what is meant by identity management?

A user's digital identity at the IdP comprises an identifier, application-independent attributes, and the authentication means with their credentials; identity management is the administration of exactly this user data and these credentials.

Taking Alice as the example, the IdP's record is:

• Identifier: alice
• Application-independent attributes: name Baumann, first name Alice, date of birth 16.04.1996, place of birth Bern, gender, e-mail alice@bluewin.ch
• Authentication means and credentials: the password (hashed)

"Application-independent" is the important qualifier. The IdP stores what is true about Alice regardless of which application she uses. What the HR system or the learning platform additionally needs about her is not identity data and stays with those applications, which is the subject of the next card.