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Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Technology and Digital Systems

Cyber, Digital and Space Systems

Digital public infrastructure and digital identity

Digital public infrastructure and digital identity, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Digital public infrastructure and digital identity: foundations and practice

This area covers the shared digital systems, such as identity, payments and data exchange, that deliver services at societal scale, and their governance, safeguards and resilience.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Updates assurance levels and controls against fraud and account takeover for digital identity services. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-63-4, Digital Identity Guidelines, 31 July 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Define digital public infrastructure and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain digital identity and authentication and digital payments and services with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against data exchange and interoperability, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Digital identity and authentication
    • Digital identity and authentication
    • Digital payments and services
    • Data exchange and interoperability
  2. Data spaces and rights
    • Data spaces and rights
    • Digital inclusion
    • Digital service resilience
  3. Public cloud and concentration
    • Public cloud and concentration
    • Safeguards and redress
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • When a public service authenticates through one identity platform, the share of people with an identity, the number of authentications a year and the failure rate per attempt multiply into failed attempts per thousand people, and the fallback that exists in practice, not on paper, decides how many of those become exclusions.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T13 Data and digital public infrastructure risk
  • NRS-T7 Digital identity and trust infrastructure risk
  • NRS-H54 Hazard family: Signal and platform disruption
  • NRS-H107 Hazard family: Digital infrastructure concentration and monoculture

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C6 Systemic and cascading risk
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-63-4, Digital Identity Guidelines, 31 July 2025
  2. World Bank, Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development: Toward the Digital Age, 2021
  3. Masiero and Bailur, Digital identity for development: The quest for justice and a research agenda, 2021
02Live map

Connected activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Night-time lights and population density, the footprint of electrified, connected activity, over the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Connected activity

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Connected activity, framed on the United Kingdom and Ireland.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

What is changing, with standards and evidence

Digital public infrastructure and digital identity: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed digital public infrastructure and digital identity between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Digital public infrastructure and digital identity: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Updates assurance levels and controls against fraud and account takeover for digital identity services. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-63-4, Digital Identity Guidelines, 31 July 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in digital public infrastructure and digital identity since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce digital identity guidelines are finalised in a fourth revision on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. Digital identity guidelines are finalised in a fourth revision
    • NIST published SP 800-63-4, superseding revision 3 after nearly 6,000 public comments, with requirements for identity proofing, authentication, federation and assertions in government systems.
    • Updates assurance levels and controls against fraud and account takeover for digital identity services.
    • National Institute of Standards and Technology, 31 July 2025
  2. Global Findex 2025 adds phone ownership and digital safety data
    • The World Bank's survey of 141 economies finds nearly 80% of adults have an account, 1.3 billion remain unbanked, and 42% of adults in low- and middle-income countries made a digital merchant payment in 2024.
    • Shows who digital payment and identity systems reach, and who is excluded, for inclusion and resilience assessments.
    • World Bank, 16 July 2025
  3. Commission adopts technical standards for EU Digital Identity Wallets
    • The Commission adopted implementing regulations on core functions and conformity assessment of European Digital Identity Wallets, which member states are to make available by the end of 2026.
    • Defines the security, interoperability and conformity baseline for a continent-scale identity system and its relying parties.
    • European Commission, 28 November 2024
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T13 Data and digital public infrastructure risk
  • NRS-T7 Digital identity and trust infrastructure risk
  • NRS-H54 Hazard family: Signal and platform disruption
  • NRS-H107 Hazard family: Digital infrastructure concentration and monoculture

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C6 Systemic and cascading risk
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-63-4, Digital Identity Guidelines, 31 July 2025
  2. World Bank, Mobile-Phone Technology Powers Saving Surge in Developing Economies, 16 July 2025
  3. European Commission, Commission adopts technical standards for cross-border European Digital Identity Wallets, 28 November 2024
  4. World Bank, Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development: Toward the Digital Age, 2021
  5. Masiero and Bailur, Digital identity for development: The quest for justice and a research agenda, 2021
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Digital public infrastructure

Shared digital systems, such as identity, payments and data exchange, that enable services across society.

Term

Interoperability

The ability of systems to exchange and use information through agreed standards.

Term

Foundational identity

A general-purpose identity system that other services can rely on.

Term

Consent-based data sharing

Sharing of personal data only with the informed agreement of the person concerned.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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