Jim McDonald sits down with Dan Moore, Senior Director of CIAM Strategy and Identity Standards at FusionAuth, for an in-depth conversation on customer identity and access management. Dan explains how FusionAuth views authentication as the front door to any application and why control, deployment flexibility, and developer ownership are central to their approach. The discussion covers progressive registration, friction vs. usability, customization options, identity standards, the build vs. buy debate, risk-based MFA, and how AI agents will shape the future of customer identity. This episode and others is made possible with support from FusionAuth. Learn more at fusionauth.io/idac.

Connect with Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mooreds/

Learn more about FusionAuth: https://fusionauth.io/idac

Blog article mentioned: https://bobdahacker.com/blog/fifa-hack

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/

Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/

Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:18 What is FusionAuth?

00:03:15 Dan's identity origin story

00:04:19 Developer focus and ethos

00:06:54 Authentication as the front door

00:10:00 Balancing friction and usability

00:15:24 Customization in CIAM

00:18:10 What sets FusionAuth apart

00:20:33 FusionAuth's customer sweet spot

00:25:48 Deployment flexibility and the control spectrum

00:30:19 Common challenges in CIAM

00:33:06 Build vs. buy for authentication

00:36:00 Omni-channel authentication

00:40:27 Why identity standards matter

00:42:07 Risk-based MFA and intelligent challenges

00:45:00 AI agents and the future of CIAM

00:49:23 Closing thoughts

00:51:35 Vacation roundup

Keywords: IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Dan Moore, FusionAuth, CIAM, customer identity, authentication, access management, IAM, identity standards, MFA, risk-based authentication, progressive registration, OAuth, OIDC, SAML, AI agents, deployment flexibility, build vs buy, Sponsor Spotlight