As more organizations look to implement systems that require authentication at higher levels of assurance, there has been increased interest in transaction-based assurance.
Recently OASIS launched the Electronic Identity Credential Trust Elevation Methods (Trust Elevation) Technical Committee http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/trust-el/charter.php. The initial deliverable is a comprehensive list of current methods to authenticate identities online to the degree necessary for high value and sensitive transactions. This is expected to be a key input to new real world solutions that use a step-up approach to multi-factor authentication.
Now AT&T has come out with Personal Levels of Assurance (PLOA), a white paper that introduces a new approach for determining transaction-based assurance.PLOA White Paper – v1.01
I'm looking forward to discussing this and other topics next week at IIW in Mountain View.