re:ID Podcast

EveryKey, a device that can enable access to mobile devices, laptops and even a car or home, zoomed to 676% of its crowd funding target on IndieGogo earlier this month. The product also has a recognized name backing it, John McAfee, the guy who founded a wildly successful anti-virus company and is now running for U.S. president as a Libertarian Party candidate. McAfee is now EveryKey chief evangelist and talked with Re:ID’s Gina Jordan about the system.

Many bold claims were made about facial recognition technology in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Vendors said facial recognition could spot wanted criminals in a crowd and perhaps stop terrorists from entering the country. The reality was quite different as it turns out that the technology works best with cooperative subjects and good quality images.

Innovations in biometric authentication are slowly moving consumers away from passwords for online checkouts. These advancements include the MasterCard Identity Check suite of solutions that prove a consumer’s identity while simplifying online transactions. A MasterCard global survey of about 10,000 consumers found that 53% of frustrated shoppers forget important passwords more than once a week, leading more than a third of them to abandon an online purchase. MasterCard just wrapped up pilots in the U.S. and the Netherlands that enabled biometrics for online payments. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Bob Reany, senior vice president of Identity Solutions at MasterCard, about the development and implementation of a mobile and biometric authentication strategy for online purchases.

NIST, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence and the NSTIC National Program Office are working together on a new project focused on protecting privacy and security when reusing credentials online. The trio is accepting comments on the project, which will examine how commercially available privacy-enhancing technologies may be integrated into identity broker solutions.

Galois, a Portland-based company that focuses on cyber security primarily for the U.S. government, is the final winner of the fourth round of NSTIC pilots. Galois and its partners will build a tool that relies on biometric authentication to enable the storing and sharing of private information online. They also intend to develop transit ticketing on smart phones, integrating the secure system into an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart home. Galois Identity Research Lead Isaac Potoczny-Jones spoke with Regarding ID's Gina Jordan about the project, which involves two separate production pilots.

The latest round of NSTIC pilot awards announced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) includes a two-time winner. MorphoTrust USA received a grant last year to pilot the creation of an electronic ID in North Carolina for accessing online services with the same security and identity authentication as in-person transactions. With the new round of funding, the identity company and its partners will continue work on an electronic ID while focusing on the prevention of state tax refund theft. Three pilot projects have been chosen in this NSTIC pilot round: Galois, HealthIDx, and MorphoTrust. MorphoTrust’s Mark DiFraia spoke with Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about the new project.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced a fourth round of grant awards in support of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). One of the winners is HealthIDx, which is developing a privacy-enhancing technology that protects patients’ identity and information. This project will pilot a “triple blind” technology where medical service providers have no knowledge of which credential service provider an end-user chooses, credential service providers have no knowledge of which medical service provider the end-user is visiting, and the identity broker has no knowledge — nor retains any information — about the transaction’s parties or contents. Three pilot projects have been chosen in this NSTIC pilot round: Galois, HealthIDx, and MorphoTrust. In this podcast, Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan speaks with HealthIDx CEO Scott Lowry about his company’s $1.6 million, two-year pilot project to improve the security of medical information.

World leaders in the identity management industry will be in Washington D.C. September 28 and 29 for the 7th edition of the eID Conference. Some 300 delegates are expected for panel discussions and keynotes speeches about the global eID infrastructure, driver license technology and the digitalization of citizen ID documents. “It’s an opportunity for both government and industry to come together to talk about how electronic identity is going to assist us in getting to the next level in our identity management related efforts,” says Geoff Slagle, identity management director for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).

World experts in terrorism and border security will be in Washington D.C. in September to discuss threats and solutions around the global movement of terrorists. The gathering is hosted by BORDERPOL, a nonprofit organization that supports border agencies worldwide. The group will examine one of the biggest culprits in successful terrorist travel: legal documents. Many terrorists are crossing borders using legitimate papers – sometimes with biometric documentation. Can improvements in biometrics and technology make a difference in reducing the threat level? Tony Smith will be part of that discussion. He will join other experts to discuss potential solutions and how they may fit into cultures with varying degrees of skepticism about the way security is used to mitigate threats. Smith is a border security consultant and former director general of the UK Border Force. He spoke with Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan from London.

It’s been nearly three years since the first grant award winners were chosen for the National Strategy for Trusted Identifies in Cyberspace (NSTIC) pilot projects. Three rounds of pilot winners have been selected each year since 2012, and a fourth round will be announced in the coming weeks. We check in with all of the previous winners for the fall issue of Regarding ID magazine. All were asked to share lessons they’ve learned from participating in the pilots. Answers from five of them are featured in this podcast with Regarding ID's Gina Jordan: Resilient Network Systems, Daon, GTRI, PRIVO, and MorphoTrust USA. All pilot participants will be profiled in the fall issue of Regarding ID magazine.