In federated identity management, which practice helps maintain trust between identity providers?

• A. Exchange metadata, configure certificates, set up signing and encryption, manage trust stores, and rotate keys periodically; monitor trust relationships.
• B. Rely on a single shared password for all providers.
• C. Disable trust monitoring to reduce overhead.
• D. Use a different authentication protocol that skips federation.

Answer: (A)

Maintaining trust in federated identity management rests on a secure, verified relationship between identity providers and service providers. Exchanging metadata lets each party automatically learn the other's endpoints, supported protocols, and certificate requirements, so trust is configured consistently and correctly. Configuring certificates and enabling signing and encryption ensures that assertions and responses are genuinely from trusted sources and stay protected in transit. Managing trust stores keeps a reliable list of trusted authorities, while rotating keys periodically reduces risk if a credential is compromised. Monitoring trust relationships provides ongoing visibility to detect issues like expired certificates or misconfigurations and respond quickly. The other options undermine trust: a single shared password creates a single point of failure; disabling trust monitoring removes essential oversight; and using a different protocol that skips federation defeats the purpose of federated identity and its trust framework.