Daon, and Its Team Including Purdue University, AARP, PayPal and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), Awarded Grant for U.S. National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace Pilots
RESTON, VA--(Marketwire - Sep 24, 2012) - Daon®, a leading provider of identity management and authentication solutions worldwide, has been selected to jumpstart the "Identity Ecosystem" envisioned by the United States National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) initiative. The Daon Team crosses five different sectors and has existing relationships with more than 200 million adults in the United States.
The NSTIC project focuses on improving the privacy, security, and convenience of sensitive online transactions, a critical need given today's digital lifestyle. Under a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Daon-helmed team will implement multiple NSTIC pilot projects enabling subscribers to securely conduct online transactions.
In parallel with the NSTIC Identity Ecosystem pilots, Purdue University will conduct research into privacy, security, performance, usability, accessibility, and user acceptance aspects of Daon's real-world implementation of the system, including the use of privacy-enhancing technologies to better manage users' disclosure of information while still providing identity assurance. The Daon Team will share results with the NSTIC Program Office and the NSTIC Steering Group to help inform the evolving Identity Ecosystem based on actual usage of this unique cyber security solution.
The Daon Team pilots will utilize IdentityX®, an identity authentication platform that leverages Daon technology. The IdentityX solution uses the end user's mobile phone or tablet and different combinations of security options to provide unprecedented levels of identity assurance. Identity can be verified using multiple authentication methods including proof of possession of the phone, digital certificate, PIN/Password, out of band one time passwords, geolocation, and voice and facial recognition (biometrics). The selection of methods used can vary depending on the sensitivity and risk of the transaction. For example, a simple transaction with low risk such as transferring a small sum between bank accounts could require just phone possession plus the entry of a PIN; whereas a transaction with higher risk, such as transferring a large sum, could require PIN and face and voice matching along with GPS to confirm the user's location.
"With digital transactions now a regular part of our daily lives, it is essential to be able to trust that all parties involved in an online transaction are authentic," commented Thomas A. Grissen, CEO of Daon. "Cyber security is a national challenge and we are proud to bring the knowledge, experience and innovative technologies that Daon has developed on large-scale identity management programs worldwide to bear on it. Conducting pilots for NSTIC gives Daon and its team the opportunity to make a significant and lasting impact on the effort to create trust in the digital world."
"The NSTIC effort is a major step in the right direction to address the challenges of privacy, security and convenience, and AARP is very glad to be a part of this initiative. Whether it is the dangers of identity theft, phishing and scams, and the lack of easy ways to protect against these realities of online life, they are serious obstacles to people over 50 -- and everyone -- from making even greater use of technology," said Jody Holtzman, senior vice president, AARP Thought Leadership.
"PayPal supports the NSTIC vision that trustworthy online identity is a key component of a healthy Internet ecosystem," said Damon Hougland, Head of Identity, PayPal. "We are pleased to be working with Daon to explore various options to pilot their technology and leverage the mobile device as an authentication platform."
The Purdue team combines expertise from four areas: the Biometric Standards, Performance and Assurance Laboratory (BSPA), the Cyber Center in the university's Discovery Park, the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), and Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP). "We're pleased to contribute to the Daon NSTIC team by looking at a real-world identity system from a research perspective," said Dr. Stephen Elliott, director of the BSPA and associate director of CERIAS, who is leading the Purdue team, working with Dr. Elisa Bertino, director of the Cyber Center and research director of CERIAS. "We combine expertise in biometric testing, cyber security, privacy and practical real-world information technology."
"Ensuring identity authenticity is an integral part of the aviation industry's daily operations, and it's something we've been helping hundreds of airports, airlines and other industry organizations accomplish for more than a decade," said Carter Morris, AAAE's senior vice president of Transportation Security Policy. "We are eager to share our expertise in this arena with Daon and its other partners as we work to help implement the NSTIC initiative projects."
NSTIC brings together the private sector, advocacy groups, public sector agencies, and other organizations with the goal of creating an Identity Ecosystem where individuals, organizations, and underlying infrastructure can be authoritatively identified as authentic. The system will protect individuals, businesses, and public agencies from the high costs of cyber crimes like identity theft and fraud, while simultaneously helping to ensure that the Internet continues to support innovation and a thriving marketplace of products and ideas. The Identity Ecosystem will allow individuals to validate their identities securely when they're doing sensitive transactions (like banking or viewing health records) and let them stay anonymous when they're not (like blogging or surfing the Web).
About Daon
Daon is a leading provider of identity assurance software products focused on meeting the needs of governments and commercial organizations worldwide. Daon Solution's COTS products are scalable, flexible and proven in the most challenging real-world environments and have been selected to secure hundreds of millions of identities around the globe. The Daon product suite covers every aspect of identity management from pre-enrolment and identity proofing to enrolment, multimodal capture, adjudication, credentialing and provisioning; and provides an open standards based architecture. Daon's software has been selected for use in major programs worldwide including the United States, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and Mexico. http://www.daon.com/
About IdentityX
IdentityX Inc. (a Daon affiliate) focuses on developing solutions to the on-going challenge of conducting digital transactions securely and easily, whether from home, the office or via a mobile device. The IdentityX mobile authentication solution was named the 2011 Terman winner in the Cyber Security & Authentication category for the American Technology Awards, which bestows the only "Best Of" awards that recognize all technology products and services for the technology industry. www.identityx.com
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