The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded pilot projects to five organizations and companies to help transition a fledgling trusted identity solutions project for online transactions from the concept stage into the realm of practical solutions for everyday use.
NIST, through its National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), awarded more than $9 million in grants for the pilot projects that are aimed at increasing confidence in online transactions. Each of the awardees has numerous teammates to help with their respective projects.
The five awardees and their amounts are:
· Resilient Network Systems, $2 million to demonstrate that sensitive health and education transactions on the Internet can earn patient and parent trust by using a trust network build around privacy-enhancing encryption technology to provide secure, multi-factor, on-demand identity proofing and authentication across multiple sectors. Project teammates include the American Medical Association, Aetna, the American College of Cardiology, ActiveHealth Management, Medicity, LexisNexis, NaviNet, the San Diego Beacon eHealth Community, Gorge Health Connect, the Kantara Initiative, and the National eHealth Collaborative. Resilient will also do a demonstration in the education sector of the secure Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act-compliant access to online learning for children. Pilot teammates for this portion Resilient’s work include the National Laboratory for Education Transformation, LexisNexis, Neustar, Knowledge Factor, Authentify Inc., Riverside Unified School District, Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and the Kantara Initiative to provide secure but privacy-enhancing verification of children, parents, teachers and staff, as well as verification of parent-child relationships;
· Criterion Systems, $2 million for a project that will allow consumers to selectively share shopping and other preferences and information to both reduce fraud and enhance the user experience. Project teammates include ID/DataWeb, AOL Corp. [AOL], LexisNexis, Risk Solutions, Experian, Ping Identity Corp., CA Technologies, PacificEast, Wave Systems Corp., Internet2 Consortium/In-Common Federation, and Fixmo Inc.;
· University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (better known as Internet2), $1.8 million to build a consistent and robust privacy infrastructure through common attributes, user-effective privacy managers, anonymous credentials, and Internet2’s InCommon Identity Federation service, and to encourage the use of multifactor authentication and other technologies. Teammates include Carnegie Mellon and Brown Universities, Univ. of Texas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Univ. of Utah;
· Daon, Inc., $1.8 million to demonstrate how senior citizens and all consumers can benefit from a digitally connected, consumer friendly identity ecosystem that enables consistent, trusted interactions with multiple parties online that will reduce fraud and enhance privacy. Pilot team members include AARP, PayPal [EBAY], Purdue Univ., and the American Association of Airport Executives;
· The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, $1.6 million, to lead a consortium of private industry and government partners to implement and pilot the Cross Sector Digital Identity Initiative, which has a goal to produce a secure online identity ecosystem that will lead to safer transactions by enhancing privacy and reducing the risk of fraud in online commerce. Teammates include the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Biometric Signature ID, CA Technologies, Microsoft [MSFT] and AT&T [T].
The pilot projects accelerate the implementation of an identity ecosystem by putting resources into potential solutions, Jeremy Grant, director of the NSTIC National Program Office, tells HSR. The projects help move the identity ecosystem from a concept and theory to an “execution plan,” he says.
The identity ecosystem essentially refers an online environment where individuals, businesses and other organizations operate with greater privacy, trust and security in conducting sensitive transactions. Grant says that three of the pilots deal with testing privacy enhancing encryption technology in potentially wider applications than ever before.
Enhanced privacy and trust could lead more trustworthy identity solutions that in turn make it easier for customers to transact business with online retailers and thereby benefiting the economy, Grant says. Online retailers will be able to trust the identity solution without having to collect a lot of data from customers, he says.
Grant says that the pilot projects will touch different population groups, showing how they react to new credential capabilities and in turn providing data for the NSTIC Steering Group and its various standing committees and working groups.
The award of the pilot grants is the most recent key milestone in the NSTIC’s work, a key part of which is letting the private sector drive implementation. Last month the private sector took the baton in moving forward establishing the identity ecosystem although Grant and his office will still be overseeing the work and participating in the process (HSR, Aug. 29).