SecureIDNews

By Salvatore D’Agostino, CSCIP, IDmachines

2012 promises to continue to advance the case for and the solutions to address the need for trusted interoperable, privacy-enhancing digital identities.

With global fraud on the order of $1 trillion – not a typo – no one really questions the important role identity plays. And this in turn drives the business case for strong authentication and trusted authorization across enterprise, e-commerce and device related applications.

So expect in 2012 to see:

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Using smart phones for online banking and shopping has been promoted as the next big thing, but adoption has been slow, partly due to the fact that smart phones have security issues. Scientific American reports that this might change with the development of quantum cryptography.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Lab have revamped quantum encryption to make it more viable for smart phone usage by developing a minitransmitter to hold the encryption key on one photon. If a hacker attempts to change the quantum information in the photon during a transaction, the transaction is cancelled.

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Diners Club Spain has chosen Gemalto to help it migrate to EMV in 2012. In this effort, Gemalto is providing consulting and personalization services to Diners Club Spain.

So far, Diners Club Spain and Gemalto have announced the availability of an approved EMV application for Diners Club. Gemalto is also providing DDA payment cards that are compliant with the Discover Financial Services D-PAS.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced a competition to award a approximately $10 million for pilot projects to accelerate progress toward improved systems for interoperable, trusted online credentials that go beyond simple user IDs and passwords.

The NIST-hosted national program office will manage the competition for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. According to the Federal Funding Opportunity, NIST anticipates funding five to eight projects for up to two years in the range of approximately $1.25 million to $2 million per year, though proposals requesting smaller amounts may be considered. The deadline for submitting initial proposals is March 7.

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ImageWare Systems announced that the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency that oversees Los Angeles International (LAX) airport, LA/Ontario International airport and Van Nuys airport, has placed an order for a number of biometric identity management and credentialing solutions.

Among the solutions LAWA is intending to implement at their airport locations are ImageWare’s Quick capture, which is a multi-biometric solutions and various parts of their Identity Service Bus suite, which will be used for identity management and credential issuance.

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In an effort to streamline passenger security, Jakarta, Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport has opened the country’s first biometric immigration gate.

Fingerprint biometric identification provider BIO-key International, Inc. and Oakwell Engineering Limited partnered to create the new gate, designed for use by passengers with electronic passports. Passengers submit their e-passports and authenticate with a fingerprint.

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India’s government has called a truce in the ongoing argument between the Ministry of Home Affairs’s National Population Register (NPR) project and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), reports the Indian Express.

Both agencies will continue on with their projects, collecting biometric data in the states in which they operate. They also agree to accept data that the other has compiled. Per the new agreement, however, the NPR database will be considered the authority if discrepancies arise.

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MasterCard introduced a road map focused on advancing the U.S. electronic payments system. The map, which includes the path for migration from magnetic stripe to EMV technology available on chip cards, will serve as the foundation for the next generation of products and services.

As payments evolve to include new devices and new channels, such as mobile and eCommerce, the road map takes steps to address how consumers shop, providing them greater security and control in their payment choices and the potential to integrate loyalty programs and offers into the purchasing experience.

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British Columbia is moving forward with plans to upgrade its CareCard program. According to The Vancouver Sun, the new card will provide access to a variety of regional services including electronic health records, driver license and school registration for children.

The local government plans to sign a $20 million, six year deal with Toronto-based SecureKey to provide all of the necessary technology, including contactless readers which enable citizens to tap their card to access the government stored information.

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HID Global has announced the successful completion of the world’s first university pilot of NFC smart phones carrying digital keys.

First announced in September, the pilot involved a select group of students and staff at Arizona State University using NFC-enabled smart phones equipped with HID’s Secure Identity Object (SIO) Technology. Participants could gain access to their residence halls and other secure access areas by tapping their handset against a reader embedded in the door and entering a PIN, rather than use their plastic campus card.

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Russia has pushed back the launch of its universal eID card to January 2013, reports The Moscow Times.

Originally scheduled to roll out this month, the card is supposed to function as an electronic ID, driver’s license, proof of auto insurance, ATM card and immigration document, along with other possible features.

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Prisoners at Tihar prisons, located near New Delhi, India, will now be using smart cards instead of paper coupons for their food purchases.

As reported by The Economic Times, the former system of paper food coupons led to misuse and illegal activity within the jail. Some prisoners would use it for currency in order to get banned substances or buy favors from others.

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HP partnered with Anakam to offer a cloud-based system for identity vetting and credentials. Bryan Maybee, a solutions architect at HP, says the system can be used by the public or private sector for registering individuals to online services.

As an individual registers for an application or service the system asks them a series of questions in order to proof the identity. The questions are taken from the individual’s utility records, credit history and other public records.

The system can also be used to register the individual into a two-factor authentication system, Maybee says. The system can send a one-time passcode to the user’s mobile phone and also use voice biometrics for a third factor of authentication.  

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Identive Group Inc. has formed a new product group within its business structure to provide services for integrated access control. This Converged Access group will build on technology designed for Identity as a Service/SaaS products like idOnDemand, as well as work with Identive’s products in the network access smart reader technology field.

Identive has hired industry veteran John Menzel in the role of vice president Access Control ID Solutions to lead the group. Menzel most recently worked with Ingersoll-Rand Security Technologies serving in general manager and director of marketing strategy roles. Prior to that, Menzel co-founded XceedID, a secure RFID reader and credential company, in 2003. XceedID was purchased by Ingersoll Rand in 2008.

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Precise Biometrics has developed a new line of “smart cases” for brands of tablets and smart phones to be released in 2012 and 2013. The new smart cases have built-in card reader and fingerprint sensor enabling users to both secure their devices as well as replace various password-based security for protected online sites and applications.

The various problems Precise expects their new smart cases to solve include enabling government workers that need to scan smart cards in order to gain access to secured sites to access those sites from their mobile device.

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Visa made waves in August when it unveiled a road map to move the U.S. to EMV and then again in January when the company said that the country’s deployment wouldn’t be chip and PIN. Stephanie Ericksen, head of Authentication Product Integration at Visa USA, talks to Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about the move and why the U.S. will have a different solution than what other typically associate with EMV. “One thing that we’re trying to clarify is there are many countries around the world that have adopted EMV chip technology, but it’s not chip and PIN,” Ericksen says.

Older podcasts.  

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The General Services Administration (GSA) has implemented its first cloud-based physical access system at the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines, Iowa.

The GSA contracted with BridgePoint Systems to utilize its TrustAlert Physical Access Control Systems. BridgePoint partnered with EmbarkIT to install the system, which replaced the GSA’s 10-year-old legacy system. The system leverages the GSA’s Kansas City, Missouri-based WAN and remote IT infrastructure, which allows the building to shrink its carbon footprint.

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As part of the U.S. Department of State’s initiative to simplify and streamline customer service interactions and processes, the Office of Passport Services has started a 90-day pilot program for online passport card applications.

Adult U.S. citizens living in the United States and Canada who currently hold a valid 10-year U.S. passport book may participate in the program. Applications must include an acceptable digital photograph and a payment of $30 via Pay.gov. Applicants will not be required to mail in their current passport book and forms.

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Codebench Inc. and Hirsch Identive announced the integration of Codebench’s PIVCheck Plus software with Hirsch Identive’s Velocity Management Software, which aims to provide federal government and commercial customers with a solution for identity validation, authentication and PACS registration using mobile handheld devices.

Pairing PIVCheck with Velocity helps users comply with HSPD-12 and PIV-I requirements by enabling them to validate and register FIPS-201 credentials, continue that validation on an ongoing, user-defined schedule, and provide instant certificate status when the credentials are presented at a reader.

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By Dave Adams, Senior Product Marketing Manager, HID Global

Beginning in fiscal year 2012, U.S. government agencies must upgrade their physical and logical access control systems to provide federal employees and contractors with more secure and reliable forms of identification using Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials.

These credentials must leverage smart card and biometric technology in accordance with National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines embodied in FIPS 201. These upgrades must be completed before federal agencies may use development and technology refresh funds to complete other activities.

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