The application must use an approved DoW Enterprise Identity, Credential, and Access Management (E-ICAM) solution to uniquely identify and authenticate organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of organizational users).

To ensure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational users must be identified and authenticated to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system. This is typically accomplished via the use of a user store, which is either local (OS-based) or centralized (LDAP, Active Directory) in nature. However, DODI 8520.03 now requires that applications use an approved DoW E-ICAM solution whenever the ICAM solution addresses information system needs. Where the ICAM solution has been evaluated and found to not meet the needs of information system owners, information system owners must reevaluate decisions to use locally managed solutions (LDAP, Active Directory) and transition to DoW enterprise ICAM solutions to the maximum extent possible as the E-ICAM solutions mature.