Evgeny Chereshnev, the global head of social media for IT security company Kaspersky Lab, was trying to figure out how individual’s can have better control over their personal information and decided on an experiment. It started with him implanting an NFC chip in his hand and trading in his work badge and he’s hoping it will to continue with more applications. Chereshnev spoke with Re:ID’s Gina Jordan about the experiment.
GlobalPlatform develops specifications for the interoperable deployment and management of multiple applications on secure chip technology. Those specifications include a focus on the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). The association has announced the launch of a TEE Security Evaluation Secretariat. The move is designed to accelerate the deployment of certified TEE products and promote a globally interoperable mobile ecosystem. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with GlobalPlatform Technical Dir...
Computers can’t replace humans when it comes to tattoo recognition. That’s a key finding from the Tattoo Recognition Technology Challenge Workshop hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But computer algorithms are getting better, and new standards are being considered for the collection of tattoos. While tattoos are a secondary biometric - as opposed to a primary biometric like iris or fingerprint - sometimes they’re the best option available for law enforcers trying to ma...
The dark world of the web is exposed in a case study by CSID called Hacking the Hackers. The ID theft protection firm conducted an experiment this spring that shows why it's bad practice to reuse passwords. CSID created a fake company, complete with employees who had social media accounts and credit cards, and exposed some of the company's sensitive information online. What happened next was surprising - not because of what the hackers did, but because of how fast they did it.CSID's Joel Lang sp...
Some private school students and staff in St. Louis are making use of biometrics in their day-to-day comings and goings. A facial recognition system has been installed at St. Mary's High School. The cameras green light the faces recognized by the software system - or reject them if they've been labeled a threat. School president Mike England spoke with Regarding ID's Gina Jordan about the technology.
Many people don’t have easy access to the Internet, yet state governments and others are increasingly moving services online. How do the states ensure that these people have access to these services and are able to enroll an identity? Regarding ID's Gina Jordan posed these questions and more to ABI Research's Phil Sealy.
The UN Refugee Agency has begun deploying a Biometrics Identity Management System (BIMS) after a successful pilot. The goal is to enable displaced travelers to move between camps without having to be enrolled at each new stop. The system is global and will eventually allow biometric information to be communicated between camps. The agency’s Sam Jefferies and Jim Ragle are on the front lines of deploying the biometric system. They spoke with Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about the roll out and what ...
A bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly and is awaiting the governor’s signature will go a long way toward enabling Virginians to dump most of their passwords in favor of a single digital identity credential. The proposal would establish uniform standards for strengthening and authenticating digital identities. Supporters say developing these first-in-the-nation standards will make Virginia a technology leader and business hub. The two principal authors of the bill, Jeff Nigriny and Timot...
Insurance and banking provider USAA is rolling out biometric authentication on its mobile app. The company says face and voice recognition capability should be available nationwide to all of its 10.6 million customers in the coming weeks. USAA caters to members of the military and their families. The biometric login can only be used statewide on smartphones for now. USAA Chief Security Officer Gary McAlum talks with Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about how the biometric login works and why he thinks...
Iowa is America’s first state to take steps toward implementing a digital driver’s license. The Iowa Department of Transportation has been talking about the possibility with identity provider MorphoTrust USA for about a year. The concept is being readied for a pilot phase, and planners are looking at the potential of a public launch in 2016. Questions about privacy and security have to be worked out, and for now, the only option for using the license app is a smartphone. Regarding ID’s Gina Jord...
Body recognition biometrics may be the most accurate form of authentication, based on theoretical research conducted at the University of Adelaide. PhD student Teghan Lucas – working with supervisors Maciej Henneberg and Jaliya Kumaratilake – used an old online database of body measurements from 4,000 U.S. military personnel to come up with this system. What she found is that a series of large body measurements combined with one another is better than facial recognition, and it doesn’t much matt...
The Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test (MINEX) is nearly a decade old, born out of Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12, which calls for interoperable credentials for federal employees. The National Institute of Standards and Technology operates the test, which measures the performance of fingerprint matching software based on the standardized fingerprint templates. According to NIST, complying with the standard “creates the possibility of a fully interoperable multivendor marketplac...
Health care systems have been slow to embrace biometric identification technology for patients, but business is growing. Hospitals are starting to notice the potential value of using biometrics for patient identification: less fraud, fewer duplicate records, shorter wait times. Health care companies that have taken the biometric plunge using M2SYS Technology’s RightPatient platform say most patients don’t seem to mind. Instead of resisting the technology, they readily sign on when they understan...
Microsoft is seizing the opportunity to hook up with Internet-connected devices and turning to the cloud to provide enterprises with more identity authentication options, while also helping organizations embrace a bring-your–own-device (BYOD) policy. Alex Simons, director of program management for Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory, fills Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan in on the latest from the computing giant.
Barely two-years-old, Confyrm is making a big impact with a $2.4 million two years pilot project that will demonstrate ways to minimize loss when criminals create fake accounts or take over online accounts. A key barrier to federated identity — where an identity provider “vouches” for an individual at other sites — is the concern that accounts used in identity solutions may not be legitimate, or in the control of their rightful owner. Andrew Nash, founder and CEO of Confyrm, fills Gina Jordan in...
MorphoTrust is among the latest round of pilot winners for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The company is working with North Carolina and about half a dozen partners to create an electronic ID for accessing online services. Their goal is that the eID will provide the ability to authenticate identity with the same security and privacy protection as in-person transactions. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with MorphoTrust’s Mark DiFraia and miiCard’s James Varga about t...
It’s been two years since Internet2 was awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. Among other things, the money is being used to encourage the use of multi-factor authentication among higher education institutions. As more schools roll out multi-factor authentication, dozens have joined a “cohortium” to bounce ideas off each other and gather information about best practices. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with officials at the University of A...
The FBI started rolling out the Next-Generation Identification system in 2010, with new increments coming about every 18 months, and completion expected in about 2020. In about a year, the FBI will start operating out of the $164million Biometrics Technology Center in Clarksburg, W.Va. Stephen Morris, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, fills Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan in on the program’s progress.
It’s estimated that’s security breaches cost companies $100 billion a year yet the IT security market as a whole is worth $50 billion. There’s a disconnect between those two numbers but Patrick Harding, CTO at Ping Identity, posits that by using different identity management technologies enterprise security can save money. By using single sign-on specific mobile identity and other technologies employees can be more productive while also securing the enterprise, Harding tells Regarding ID’s Gina ...
When it comers to ways to improve online authentication, the discussion quickly turns to two-factor. And while two-authentication is an improvement over user names and passwords it can still be hacked. One of the latest attacks is a variation on a man-in-the-middle attacks that’s being used in Europe. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer for Trend Micro, to explain “Operation Emmental.”
In David Birch’s book “Identity is the New Money,” cash is passé. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Birch, director and global ambassador for Consult Hyperion, about his book which focuses on the technological changes that are merging payments with identity. He argues that social connections and mobile phones can work together to provide private and secure transactions. He finishes the book by calling for a rethinking of identity infrastructure, also known as entitlement infrastructure.
Authentication on mobile devices isn’t easy. Extra hardware or lengthy passwords adds friction to the authentication process and nobody wants to do that. Researchers at Rutgers University found that free form shapes drawn with fingers on the touchscreen are more secure than standard pass codes, and they’re surprisingly easy to remember. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Janne Lindqvist, an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers, about the squiggly passwords and...
The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China has been issuing contact smart cards since 2002. The agency decided to make the switch to contactless this year, says Erik Wellen, general manager at Bell ID for the Middle East. Bell ID’s Identity Token Manager is a system that enables issuers of chip-based identity cards to deploy and manage single and multi-application identity schemes. The card has many applications but one of the main reasons for the move to contactle...
While large-scale password breaches are almost common occurrences these days, the Heartbleed bug caught everybody by surprise. "The Heartbleed breach has demonstrated that everything we thought was secret on the internet is in fact not secret," says Andre Boysen, executive vice president of marketing at SecureKey. "That's really what is interesting is that Heartbleed has lifted the veil on the security model of the internet and there's been a collective gasp of disbelief." Regarding ID's Gina Jo...
A bill banning biometric in Florida school is awaiting Gov. Rick Scott's signature, and he is expected to sign it. Florida legislators weren't willing to speak with Regarding ID's Gina Jordan but audio from State Senate committee hearings described why legislators felt the need to ban the identification technologies instead of providing an opt-out provision. Senator Dorothy Hukill (R - Port Orange) says the bill is intended to protect students from having their identities stolen even though she ...
The idea of issuing smart cards to patients in health care isn’t new but has yet to take off. Federal legislation has been proposed to issue smart cards to all Medicare recipients to reduce fraud. But states are also looking at the technology in order to protect patient privacy and cut down on abuse. New Jersey Assemblyman Tim Eustace – also a chiropractor – has submitted a bill that would issue smart cards to Medicaid recipients in the garden state. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke to Eustace a...
Rounding out the last pilot winner for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Frank Morrow, program manager for identity and access management for the commonwealth, about its plans to use the $1.1 million award to knock down various agency identity silos. “Hopefully we will have our citizens being able to interact with our government in a more seamless manner without all the silos that they currently h...
Exponent is doing something a little different than the other pilot winners for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The company’s pilot has a significant hardware component to its test and will look at using different secure elements in the identity ecosystem. “We will demonstrate two form factors,” says said Brad McGoran, a principal engineer at Exponent. “One will leverage the UICC in a phone, and the other’s going to leverage a secure element that’s embedded in a weara...
Identity theft is a problem in Michigan and with more application for government services going online; the Department of Human Services wants to make sure identities are accurately vetted. The state was awarded a pilot from the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace that will focus on removing the need for a manual review of applications, giving clients a fast and accurate way to prove their identity. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Dave Akerly, acting director of communic...
TSCP was born out of a challenge: the need to securely collaborate with suppliers, teammates and government customers. Since its inception the organization has created rules for issuing and using credentials. The group was awarded one of the latest pilots for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The TSCP pilot will deploy trusted credentials to conduct secure business-to-business, government-to-business and retail transactions for small and medium-sized businesses and fina...
