Smart Card Alliance Highlights 2016 Identity Secur

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Feb. 16, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Smart Card Alliance’s Access Control, Health and Human Services, Identity, and Internet of Things Security Councils made great strides in 2016 in raising awareness of the ways smart card technology can improve privacy and security in government, enterprise, IoT and healthcare markets. The councils also elected new officers to lead activities for 2017-2018.

“The Alliance’s identity- and authentication-focused industry councils have made significant progress in 2016, educating on how smart card technology can provide the necessary levels of data protection for enterprise, government and health and human services identity and access control projects, and will continue to make impacts in 2017,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

“The Internet of Things market has similar needs for identity management, security, privacy and authentication. With this, one of the major activities of 2016 was launching the Internet of Things Security Council to provide guidance and explore how smart card technology can impact this emerging set of markets,” Vanderhoof added.

Access Control Council
The Access Control Council focuses on accelerating the widespread acceptance, use and application of smart card technology to improve security and more accurately verify the identity of individuals seeking access to physical facilities, networks, devices and information systems.

In 2014, the council educated the industry on secure credentialing for enterprise physical access control systems (EPACS) with the workshop for the Smart Card Alliance Government Conference, “PIV in EPACS.” The council also leads the industry in providing comments and recommendations to the federal government on important specifications and policies for implementing identity credentials using smart card technology.

The council focused on supporting government initiatives in 2016, submitting comments on critical GSA and NIST specifications related to PIV card implementation. The council also drafted a position paper on the impact of new OMB guidance on PIV-enabled access control systems, “Smart Card Alliance Commentary: OMB Circular A-130 2016 – Managing Information as a Strategic Resource.”

To help continue the progress of the council, the steering committee officers for 2017-2018 are:

• Chair: Adam Shane, LEIDOS
• Vice chair: Dave Helbock, XTec, Inc.

Health and Human Services Council
The Health and Human Services Council promotes the adoption of smart card technology for healthcare and human services applications and within the national health IT infrastructure, and educates the healthcare market on why smart card technology is the appropriate solution for healthcare identity management applications.

The council had a very active year, publishing a white paper on the impact of EMV migration on the healthcare industry and the opportunities that EMV-enabled point-of-sale terminals offer for accepting smart patient ID cards, “Healthcare Identity Authentication and Payments Convergence: A Vision for the Healthcare Industry.” The council also published its vision for healthcare identity management in an infographic, “Healthcare 2.0: A New Paradigm for a Secure and Streamlined Healthcare Industry.”

In addition to these deliverables, the council educated the healthcare industry through presentations at industry events and other industry outreach. The council produced a session for the HIMSS 2016 Conference, “Patient Identity and Digital Matching: A New Approach,” to address issues relating to patient misidentification, record matching and fraud, and to provide industry-recommended best practices for using an identity-centric, credential-based model to improve in these areas.

Other conferences the council participated in included the annual National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM) conference and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) conference.

To lead the Health and Human Services Council in 2017-2018, the elected steering committee officers are:

• Chair: Morgan Richard, XTec, Inc.
• Vice chair: Jeff Fountaine, Ingenico Group
• Secretary: Stefan Barbu, NXP Semiconductors

Identity Council
The Identity Council focuses on secure identities, a critically important issue for citizens, governments, enterprises and any organization that determines rights and privileges for individuals.

In 2016, the council collaborated with the FIDO Alliance on the white paper, “Smart Card Technology and the FIDO Protocols.” The white paper provides an overview of the FIDO protocols, a description of the security benefits of using smart card technology in FIDO implementations, and examples of related use cases.

Internet of Things Security Council
The Internet of Things Security Council was created in 2016 to develop and promote best practices and provide educational resources on implementing secure IoT architectures using embedded security and privacy.

As part of its 2016 activities, the council launched IoTSecurityConnection.com, a content portal featuring relevant news, resources, expert commentary and thought leadership on the security and privacy of the Internet of Things (IoT). The council also developed the program for the 2016 Security of Things conference, with members contributing content for the event. The council recently completed the white paper “Embedded Hardware Security for IoT Applications.”

To learn more about the Smart Card Alliance councils, the newly-elected steering committees and the resources available, visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/activities-councils/.

About the Smart Card Alliance
The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.

CONTACT: Megan Shamas Montner Tech PR 203-226-9290 mshamas@montner.com