I don't think it's that the stack doesn't exist anywhere. It's more that the best authentication systems are siloed within a few select organizations and trust

I don't think it's that the stack doesn't exist anywhere. It's more that the best authentication systems are siloed within a few select organizations and trust across organizations is spotty. If I had to recommend a single simple+powerful auth system right now, it would likely be Duo Security[1]. And there are countries (SKorea, Estonia) and even organizations within the US (US DoD) which have largely solved authentication. SKorea and Estonia allow (require?) digital transactions to use their state-issued digital ID. The US DoD has ID cards, digital login systems, etc (although it's not clear to me how homogenous or "simple" it is). Windows is working on "Hello". Apple has (TouchID + FaceID + iTunes/iCloud). Facebook properties use the FB auth stack(s). Google properties use its auth stack. Amazon properties use its auth stack. I think the complexity is that there is no "one account to rule them all", but I'm not sure I would trust any organization listed above to not screw it up. The US DoD is probably best equipped to understand the needs of building a robust authentication solution, but they also have physical control of their persons and don't necessarily need to work on the timeframes that the other companies listed here work on. Every single organization I've listed has had at least one high profile data/IP breach, so I would argue it's the asymmetric nature of defense versus attack that is the problem in the current internet space. [1] https://duo.com/ https://duo.com/