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Book launches on April 23

Criminals no longer break in - they log in

If identity still feels like an IT problem, your business is already exposed. Mastering Digital Identity: From Risk to Revenue shows leaders how identity has become a core driver of risk, trust, and competitive advantage, and what to do about it.
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Mastering Digital Identity: Book Mockup
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I told the world it had no privacy in 1999. What I didn't add: without an identity strategy, that loss becomes liability. Eve Maler helped build identity's foundations at Sun, continued that work at ForgeRock, and has now written the brief every CEO needs before their board asks questions they can't answer.
Scott McNealy
 
Co-Founder and CEO
,
Sun Microsystems
 
Co-Founder and Board Member
,
Curriki
An exectutive, holding the book: Mastering Digital Identity

Why execs need
Mastering Digital Identity

Identity isn't an IT problem anymore
Executives don’t usually think about identity until something goes wrong: fraud, account takeover, regulatory scrutiny, or a sudden loss of customer trust.

In our AI-accelerated world, that’s already too late. Deepfaked impersonation, fragmented ownership, and outdated assumptions have turned digital identity into the weakest link in the modern enterprise.
Yet identity still lives in silos: IT, security, product, marketing—each optimizing locally while risk and friction compound globally.

Mastering Digital Identity shows you how (and why) identity is really your business model in disguise, and how to design it with intention and purpose, before failure forces the issue.

What's In The Book

The Identity Death Spiral

Identity is trapped between competing priorities. Accelerated by AI-driven impersonation, weak verification systems, and fragmented teams, these risks don't just cost money—they destroy trust and expose executives to personal liability.
AI-driven impersonation
Weak verification systems
Fragmented teams

A Strategic Roadmap

Discover a practical roadmap for empowering your organization's Identity Product Owner. Unify identity outcomes to support your growth strategy and cultivate trust in all directions.
Unified identity outcomes
Resilient growth strategy
Cultivated trust

four Forces of Identity

Explore the four powerful forces that shape every identity system we use today.

Protection

Secure your organization against AI-driven impersonation and fraud.

Personalization

Leverage identity to deliver tailored experiences that drive real growth.

Payment

Streamline transactions while navigating commerce and compliance.

People

Empower both customers and employees to control how they connect and share online.

What Leaders Are Saying

Digital identity is the connective tissue of modern financial services. Eve Maler—SAML co-creator and identity industry icon—expertly moves identity from technical debt to business asset. This is the book I want our CEO and Board to read; it is the definitive guide to transforming digital identity into a strategic business product.
Mark E. Drummond
Director, Digital Trust and Identity
,
Empire Life
Most leaders only see the part of the identity elephant right in front of them — the CISO sees security, marketing sees data, product sees the login box. Eve Maler shows you the whole elephant. Mastering Digital Identity is the first book that connects every piece—protection, personalization, payment, and people—into a unified strategic vision that turns identity from your biggest headache into your most powerful competitive weapon.
Dick Hardt
Founder / CEO
,
Hellō
Advising financial institutions, I've long argued identity belongs at the strategy table—not in the cost center. Mastering Digital Identity makes that case compellingly, reframing identity as more than technology: it's a profit engine built for humans and organizations alike. This will be a trusted companion for years. I only wish it had come sooner.
Zeeshan Qureshi
Digital Identity Evangelist
|
Advisor
,
Callsign
From the early days of SAML to today’s AI-driven enterprise, identity has been foundational to security and resilience. In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve connects decades of hard-won progress to the urgent modernization imperative leaders now face. Her emphasis on orchestration and executive ownership reflects exactly what enterprises must do to navigate risk and unlock what’s next in the Agentic Age.
Eric Olsen
Co-Founder & CEO
,
Strata Identity
|
Co-inventor
,
SAML
Everyone says identity is a board-level issue now. Few can explain it. Eve Maler can. This book cuts through the noise with a clear, pragmatic take on where modern identity is headed. Read this to lead C-suite conversations—and finally understand where your security budget is going…and where it truly should.
Prem Czerklewicz
Co-Founder & CEO
,
Relock
In complex healthcare ecosystems, digital identity must simultaneously enable collaboration and prevent harm. Eve captures this tension with precision and insight. Mastering Digital Identity gives senior leaders the frameworks they need to turn identity from a persistent obstacle into a strategic enabler of secure, trusted care delivery.
Janice Reese
Program Manager
,
FHIR at Scale (FAST) Task Force
This book is full of sharp, practical insights that make you rethink how identity brings together tech and business. It makes the case that the right perspective on identity can really give business an edge. It made me step back and reconsider some assumptions, and it’s written with a light, engaging touch.
Bertrand Carlier
Associate Partner
,
Wavestone
Eve’s deep experience in digital identity, coupled with her unique ability to translate complex technical challenges into clear business value, makes this book a great read—with a bit of fun thrown in.
Nancy Lush
President
,
Patient Centric Solutions

Identity touches every human interaction your enterprise has — yet most organizations still manage it like a background problem rather than a boardroom one. After two decades in cybersecurity and a thousand conversations with CISOs, I know what it costs to get this wrong. Eve Maler shows leaders how to get it right.

Ashwin Krishnan
Founder
,
StandOutIn90Sec
|
Author
,
Mobile Security for Dummies
In my two decades architecting identity solutions, I learned that no organization is too small to face digital risk — a lesson that has only grown more urgent. In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve Maler cuts through security theater and delivers a clear, practical framework for executives who need to govern identity as a core business responsibility.
Brad Tumy
Senior Architect – Identity & Security
,
Twilio
Mastering Digital Identity is the book every board needs on the table right now. It translates identity from an obscure IT problem into a profit and resilience engine, giving CEOs, CISOs, CMOs, and COOs a shared language to tame AI‑era risk while unlocking new revenue and trust at scale.
Priya Guliani
CEO
,
EarthID
Mastering Digital Identity is masterful. Eve makes the complicated subject of digital identity easily consumable for enterprise leaders. Required reading for anyone involved in the “next Internet”—a world where individuals own and control their digital identity.
Jeffrey Schwartz
Founder & CEO
,
Dentity
To many, identity seems deceptively simple — just authentication and security. Eve takes the reader on a journey that reveals a deeper value: opportunities for differentiation beyond its standards and mechanics. That she makes this case so compellingly, after a career spent deep in specifications, is both enlightening and entertaining.
Allan Foster
Board Member
,
Digital Identity Advancement Foundation
|
Co-Founder
,
ForgeRock
Eve Maler brings a unique and valuable perspective to the identity crisis organisations are facing. In a context where employees, customers, and citizens are justifiably worried about the uses and abuses of their information, getting it right with respect to their identity is a solid basis for respecting their privacy and building trust.
John Wunderlich
Chief Privacy Officer
,
JLINC Labs
From the user-centric authorization side of identity — where unlocking health and citizen data safely is the entire mission — the technical work has never been the barrier. Getting executives to own identity and authorization as a strategic priority always has been. I built my company to close that gap from the technical side; this book closes it from the executive side.
Mike Cook
CEO
,
IDENTOS
Josh Knight
Customer & identity product lead
,
Global hospitality organization
Identity can no longer be an afterthought. In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve Maler thoroughly illustrates why executives must demand better than "good enough" to protect their assets, drive growth and increase customer trust.
Steve Gwizdala
VP
,
Ping Identity
Identity security is a hot topic, yet few can articulate what’s truly broken. Answering that requires technical depth, strategic insight, and business acumen. Eve Maler brings all three together in this essential book, explaining what is wrong with identity, why CxOs should care, and how the right strategy can fuel business processes while dramatically reducing data breach risk.
Abhay Kulkarni
CEO
,
WideField Security
Eve Maler makes a compelling case that identity is no longer just about access or control. It is about trust, relationships, and the real work a digital business must get right. At a time when so much attention is pulled toward AI hype, this book grounds the reader in the practical, strategic reality of identity as a product, not merely a back-office function.
Alan V. Nekhom
AI, data, and digital trust strategist
Eve, a pioneer in identity, makes a simple truth clear: identity serves multiple customers across the enterprise and demands a single product owner to align strategy. Marketing improves onboarding, finance reduces fraud, HR streamlines joiner-mover-leaver processes, and the CISO sleeps better—while the CEO faces breach liability with greater confidence.
John Harrison
Lead Director
,
UCDx
Mastering Digital Identity feels less like a book and more like the opening chapter of a new era for IAM. Eve elevates identity from compliance overhead to strategic infrastructure at the core of business. Having watched her shape the standards underpinning today’s digital world, I can say this perspective could only come from her. Essential reading for leaders who take strategy seriously.
Steve Tout
Founder & CEO
,
Identient
Propelled by mighty risks, scandalous headlines, and practitioner grit, identity's rise to the C-suite was inevitable. It's taken Eve Maler a grand journey to articulate the formula — unifying security with growth imperatives and every business function under a product umbrella. Now every executive has a roadmap.
Pablo Valarezo
IAM Sr. Director
,
Council for Affordable and Quality Healthcare
Mastering Digital Identity provides flexible frameworks and actionable advice for tech executives on how to make identity your business superpower. This book will help you make important decisions about identity that will shape your business’ future.
John Kemp
Contributor
,
SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect
|
IAM Product Manager
,
Capital One
Eve combines decades of experience with practical clarity to create both a powerful executive primer and a highly actionable guide for practitioners. She cuts through identity complexity and equips organizations with a pragmatic framework for navigating uncertainty and driving meaningful change. This is a book that informs, challenges, and empowers anyone responsible for digital trust.
James Bonifield
CEO & Managing Partner
,
Anthropic Identity
Digital identity isn’t an IT problem — it’s a leadership lever. This book cuts through security theater and shows how identity drives trust, revenue, and speed. I’ve seen firsthand how identity determines whether regulated enterprises can onboard, scale, and remain credible under pressure. Eve Maler gives leaders a practical way to finally own that responsibility.
Dave Middleton, Jr.
VP - IAM Transformation & Enablement
,
Prudential Financial
At Twilio, I work where customer experience meets identity verification every day. In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve Maler reveals why identity failures now threaten customer trust, regulatory compliance, and executive careers — and shows organizations how to transform identity from a technical burden into a strategic engine for growth and trust.
Anurag Dodeja
VP of Product - Identity and Security
,
Twilio
Leading "identity as a product" in a complex healthcare organization taught me how invisible—and powerful—identity really is. Mastering Digital Identity gives CEOs the frameworks they’ve been missing to understand identity’s true business impact, align teams around it, and turn a chronic risk area into a source of clarity and resilience.
Sarah Fehribach
Customer IAM leader
,
Humana
Eve has delivered a blueprint for identity leaders who are ready to stop fighting fires and start driving revenue. Having seen identity evolve from cyber outcast to star of the show, I know firsthand the unavoidable risks and rewards that stem from identity failure or success — and Eve's real-world experience makes both unmistakably clear.
Andrew Budlong
President
,
Digital Ridge Technologies
The boardrooms of organisations that collect personal identity information (PII) need to protect such sensitive data from unlawful use. Data protection regulations present liabilities for boardrooms. Mastering Digital Identity by Eve Maler is informative for executives on achieving successful risk mitigation.
Patrick McKenna
CTO & Founder
,
Objectsoft
Eve Maler has a powerful vision for leveraging an organization’s identity estate for strategic advantage. Positioning identity as a holistic, proactive, and strategic product led by an empowered Identity Product Owner with cross-functional reach can unlock huge value. Identity is complex—but it's open to great opportunity. Leaders: read this, understand this, implement this.
Alex Chalmers
Identity Specialist and Technical Principal
,
Paravel Technology Solutions
Zero Trust begins with identity—and few understand that better than Eve Maler, one of the world’s top identity experts. We worked together at Forrester Research, and whenever I had identity questions, Eve was my first call. Her book distills decades of expertise into a crisp, compelling guide to identity as the foundation of modern security and business trust.
John Kindervag
Creator of Zero Trust and Chief Evangelist
,
Illumio
In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve Maler delivers a wake-up call every CEO and board member needs. She brilliantly reframes identity from an IT afterthought into the strategic engine of trust, resilience, and revenue. In an era of AI-driven deception and rising executive liability, this book is both a warning and a roadmap for digital leadership.
Valmiki Mukherjee
Global CISO & NatSec/Board Advisor
,
Cyber Future Foundation
In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve cuts through the identity industry jargon, using real-world examples, to help executives understand the essentials of digital identity. Using the “Four Ps” to address the identity crisis, she explains how to build a robust identity strategy that treats identity as an asset, not a headache. Essential reading for any executive.
Susan Morrow
Head of R&D
,
Avoco Identity
If you care about who accesses your assets — and how customers engage with you — this book is essential. As an attorney in the fraud space, I’ve seen firsthand the damage identity misuse can cause. Now, as identity undergoes profound AI-accelerated change, we need a philosophy that enables rich engagement without reverting to walled gardens. Eve makes that future clear and actionable for leaders.
Charisse Castagnoli
Managing Partner
,
VilyaLaw PLLC
Eve Maler brings us back to reality: identity is largely misunderstood throughout big corporations and is haunted by myths. Tracing the missteps that have led to the perfect identity storm, Eve shows us a path back to the light of the ‘Identity Product Owner’ and the transformation of identity from problem to competitive weapon. Essential reading for every board member.
Adam Cooper
Independent Identity & Digital Transformation Expert
|
Consultant
,
World Bank
Leading customer identity at one of the world's largest loyalty programs, I see Eve's reframe as striking: the complexity engulfing digital identity is also "the most significant business opportunity of our lifetime." Getting security and identity right unlocks enormous customer and business value — and Mastering Digital Identity shows product-led organizations how to elevate identity as the core pillar that captures it.
Josh Knight
Customer & identity product lead
,
Global hospitality organization
Demystifying. Eve does something that few books have ever done: turning the seemingly arcane and inscrutable topic of digital identity into a clear business imperative. She not only helps explain the intrinsic value of identity but also provides techniques to serve as waypoints to see you through the mist that can be digital identity.
Ian Glazer
President
,
Weave Identity
Having led innovation in marketing, customer data, and identity from social sign-in to CDPs, I’ve long seen marketing as a customer of identity—but rarely seen that reality articulated. Mastering Digital Identity gets it right. It shows CEOs how identity powers personalization, transactions, and trust, while engaging privacy in a way modern innovation demands.
Lee Hammond
Customer data and MarTech innovator
,
KLH
Eve has written an identity manual every executive and industry can use, digging into modern identity issues and explaining how we got here. The book clearly defines the identity leader’s organizational role and provides an insightful, intuitive framework for identity’s many jobs to be done. An impactful read for C-suite leaders—and an overdue one given the mess we’re in.
Sean Willeford
Chief Security Architect
,
WorldPay
Having founded ForgeRock and watched Eve's work close-up, I know she is the ultimate translator between deep protocols and real-world business value. Mastering Digital Identity shows how to move beyond the "lone wolf" model of security toward a relationship-centric architecture—treating identity as a product rather than a perimeter and turning digital trust into a genuine revenue engine.
Lasse Andresen
Founder
,
ForgeRock
|
Co-Founder & CEO
,
Indykite
As co-host of Identity at the Center, the official IDPro podcast, I've heard every perspective on identity. Eve Maler is a genuine O.G., and in Mastering Digital Identity she does something rare: translates identity from technical discipline into the business strategy language that finally gives executives the vocabulary to lead it.
Jim McDonald
Identity Practitioner, Advisor, and Podcaster
,
Identity at the Center (IDAC) Podcast
Mastering Digital Identity is exceptionally timely. I deeply admire Eve's ability to translate complex identity challenges into clear business language and illuminate the shift from cost center to profit engine. By confronting the enduring tension between security and identity, this book is essential reading for leaders navigating today’s human and AI-driven identity landscape.
Jacob Ideji
Author
,
Field Manual for Cyber Incident Handling and Response
By waving the opportunity carrot more than brandishing the cybersecurity stick, Eve lays out a cogent case for why C-suites, boards, and decision makers must embrace identity as an avenue in their pursuit of market share.
Jon Lehtinen
VP of Identity Products & Engineering
,
UberEther
Years as an identity product owner in financial services, and years more advising organizations on identity strategy, built my skill and intuitions. Eve Maler's book gave me the language for them. Reading it is seeing my hard-won skillset finally named and organized. She gets the truly hard parts right, and delivers the strategic framing that turns practitioner intuition into executive mandate.
Henk Marsman
Principal Consultant
,
SonicBee
As a standards innovator, I've spent my career making identity work seamlessly across boundaries. Eve's book makes the case every C-suite needs to hear: identity isn't a cost or a hurdle — it's what connects your users and makes their journey delightful, turning compliance headaches into genuine growth engines.
David Brossard
CTO
,
Axiomatics
|
Co-creator
,
OpenID AuthZEN standard
Eve Maler's Mastering Digital Identity articulates what many of us in the identity space have been trying to convince our organizations for years: identity isn't just a cost center or a compliance checkbox — it's the infrastructure that either accelerates or destroys every business process you have. A must-read for anyone evangelizing identity as a growth driver.
Hannah Sutor
Security Engineering
,
Netflix
Mastering Digital Identity is an essential guide for enterprise leaders navigating today’s identity landscape. Eve weaves real-world experience and practical wisdom into a powerful, relatable book that resonates not only with identity professionals, but with any executive seeking to understand how identity shapes risk, growth, and customer trust.
Ranjan Jain
Identity Executive
,
Ex-Disney
In Mastering Digital Identity, Eve Maler pinpoints the root of today’s greatest opportunity — and most profound risk. Many organizations have underfunded identity modernization for years. Those that recognize its critical importance in the era of ubiquitous AI agents will drive superior business outcomes and avoid costly, catastrophic setbacks. Brilliant and timely.
Matt Teeple
Head of Business Development & Strategy
,
Strata Identity
Eve makes the case for identity as a first-class product within organizations, an enabler and core capability for every product that involves internal or external users — including agentic ones.
Hal Stern
Distinguished Engineer
,
Applecart
An insider’s perspective on digital identity that speaks the language of the C-suite, clearly illustrating the human and business stakes, and the profound consequences of getting implementation right or wrong.
Dean H. Saxe, CIDPRO
Principal Security Engineer, Identity & Access Management
,
Remitly
Poor identity decisions don’t just fail technically—they burn money, time, and credibility. This guide is for executives ready to stop improvising and start turning identity into revenue.
Andre Facciolli
President
,
Netbr
An image of the author, Eve Maler
An image of the author, Eve Maler

Eve maLER

President and Founder, Venn Factory | Digital Identity Strategist | Author and Speaker | Board Member

Meet the author

Eve Maler is the founder and president of Venn Factory and one of the world’s leading authorities on digital identity and trust.‍

‍An award-winning standards pioneer, Eve has co-founded and shaped the foundational systems that enterprises rely on every day—from early internet protocols to modern identity and access frameworks. She led identity innovation at Sun Microsystems and ForgeRock, serving as ForgeRock’s CTO through Series E, IPO, and acquisition.

Today, Eve helps executive teams turn identity from hidden plumbing into a visible business advantage, reducing fraud and account takeover, improving conversion and customer experience, accelerating delivery, and giving people real, user-visible choice over their data.actions while navigating commerce and compliance.

SELECTED AWARDS & AFFILIATIONS

Privacy by Design Ambassador, designated by Ontario Privacy Commissioner, in 2013
Inaugural Okta Identity 25 Listee in 2024
Identiverse Conference Advisory Board since 2018
Co-Chair, Death and the Digital Estate (DADE) Group since 2024
SC Magazine Women in Security Power Player in 2019
AriseHealth logoOE logo2020INC logoThe Paak logoEphicient logoToogether logo

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‍
Includes:
Live in-person or virtual reading and commentary
Facilitated discussion
Identity Ownership Maturity Snapshot tool
Signed book copies (when available)
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Eve Maler speaking at CFS Conference 2025

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"Identity isn't about technology; it's about the humans who use it, the organizations that depend on it, and the world we're all creating together."
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