PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Jan. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Secure Technology Alliance shared today the significant progress made by its Access Control, Identity, Internet of Things Security, Payments and Transportation Councils in promoting the adoption of secure technology for better privacy and security across several markets this year. The Alliance also announced today its newly elected Board of Directors and Executive Committee to lead and provide guidance for the organization.
This has been an impactful year for the Alliance, and the industry councils are leveraging the momentum from 2019 for continued success in 2020.
“Each council is an essential piece of the overall structure of the Alliance, making an impact in specified market segments that depend on secure technology,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Secure Technology Alliance. “2019 has brought positive change and notable accomplishments to each market, producing helpful resources and advancing widespread adoption of technology that ensures privacy and safety for mobile identity, payments, transportation and more.”
Access Control Council
The Access Control Council’s mission is to accelerate the widespread usage of secure technologies in various form factors for physical and local access control. The council’s focus in 2019 was on providing guidance to the federal government on implementing secure access control credentials. Throughout the year, the Access Control Council contributed to the first public comment period for the Next Generation Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC®) Reader Hardware and Card Application Specification.
The council also developed a guide to NIST SP 800-116 R1, “Guidelines for the Use of PIV Credentials in Facility Access,” providing the essential information required to successfully implement PIV with physical access control systems (PACS). This white paper, “Industry Recommendations for Implementing PIV Credentials with Physical Access Control Systems,” was published in May. Also in 2019, the council worked with the General Services Administration (GSA) to contribute to the “Physical Access Control System Guide.”
The Access Control Council elected its Steering Committee and new officers in 2019. Council officers are: Chair - Clay Estes, HID Global; Vice Chair - Lars Suneborn, ID Technology Partners; Secretary - William Windsor, Department of Homeland Security.
The council will continue its focus on secure access credentials for the federal government in 2020, covering guidance for temporary identity credentials and providing industry commentary on draft specifications.
Identity Council
The Identity Council aims to raise awareness and provide thought leadership and education on real-world issues of implementing and operating identity and identity authentication and authorization systems. In 2019, the Identity Council brought cross-industry stakeholders together to discuss adoption of standards-based mobile identity credentials for businesses and service providers who rely on customers having trusted forms of identification. 2019 activities supported the Alliance’s Mobile Driver’s License Initiative and created corresponding educational resources. Additionally, the Council continued to promote awareness, education and adoption of advances in identity proofing including mobile and supervised remote identity proofing.
In 2019, the council also elected its Steering Committee, with Tom Lockwood, NextgenID as its new chair.
In 2020, the council will continue cross-industry activities supporting the implementation of mobile driver’s licenses and the related draft standard, ISO 18013-5 “Personal identification — ISO-compliant driving license — Part 5: Mobile driving license (mDL) application.”
Internet of Things Council
The Internet of Things Security Council develops best practices and promotes the implementation of secure IoT architectures using embedded security and privacy. The focus of the Internet of Things Council for 2019 was on education for security in the IoT ecosystem. The council hosted the two-part webinar series, “Security in the IoT Ecosystem,” to provide best practices for protecting data and securing IoT devices throughout the entire IoT ecosystem.
In 2020, the council will continue the focus on IoT markets where security, safety and privacy are key requirements and provide a unified voice for the industry to the broader IoT environment.
Payments Council
The Payments Council’s primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the means of improving the security of the payments infrastructure and enhancing the payments experience. In 2019, the council published the white paper and hosted a webinar, “Biometric Payment Cards,” to provide a primer on biometric payment cards for issuers, issuer processors, payment networks and merchants.
The council will enter 2020 with a continued focus on new secure payments technologies, with resources under development on secure contactless payments with wearables, dynamic security code cards for secure card-not-present transactions, secure open payments framework for electric vehicle charging and cryptography and the restricted operating environment.
Transportation Council
The Transportation Council is focused on promoting the adoption of interoperable payment systems for transit, tolling, parking and evolving mobility services and technologies. The council spent 2019 building upon past activities and projects that led to successful deployments of open payment fare systems in the transit industry and created an improved understanding of multi-modal payment integration. This year also included a collaboration with the U.S. Payments Forum Transit Contactless Open Payments Working Committee on best practices for accepting contactless open payments in transit.
The council’s focus for 2020 is shifting to provide educational resources on the integration of payments with Mobility as a Service (MaaS) implementations, including exploring opportunities and challenges. 2020 plans include workshops and development of a white paper.
Alliance Announces 2020 Executive Committee and Board
The executive leadership guides the Alliance to fulfill its mission and provides valuable leadership to the organization. Newly elected members are given the opportunity to share education and best practices surrounding secure technologies.
The Secure Technology Alliance’s 2020 executive committee’s co-chairs are Oliver Manahan, Infineon Technologies and Jack Jania, CPI Card Group. Other newly elected or returning members to the Alliance board are Reena Abraham, Gemalto, a Thales Company; Ryan Ahern, Ingenico; Tim Baldridge, U.S. Department of Defense/Defense Manpower Data Center; Brent Bowen, G+D Mobile Security; Carey Ferro, American Express; David deKozan, Cubic Transportation Systems; Megan Heinze, IDEMIA; Linda Horwath, JCB International; Simon Hurry, Visa Inc.; Thomas Lockwood, NextgenID; Kunal Munjal, Mastercard; Brin Owen, Jacobs Engineering; Ellie Smith, Discover Financial Services; and Kelly Urban, Fiserv.
"The Alliance's mission to bring security to every device, product and service is more important than ever as the world grows more interconnected, and our executive leadership are the driving force behind this initiative," said Vanderhoof. "Through expertise and valuable guidance, these board members act as the pillars for our organization and will continue to be an instrumental source of dedication and information as our membership and industry councils work to bring security across markets in the coming year."
For more information about the Secure Technology Alliance organization’s accomplishments for 2019, visit the 2019 Annual Review. The newly designed all-digital publication includes photos and summaries of this year’s Alliance activities, including highlights of the events, industry council deliverables, training and certifications, membership awards and recognition, and the achievements of the U.S. Payments Forum.
To learn more about the Secure Technology Alliance councils, visit https://www.securetechalliance.org/alliance-industry-councils/.
For continuing updates on the Secure Technology Alliance, visit www.securetechalliance.org and follow @SecureTechOrg on Twitter.
About the Secure Technology Alliance
The Secure Technology Alliance is the digital security industry’s premier association. The Alliance brings together leading providers and adopters of end-to-end security solutions designed to protect privacy and digital assets in payments, mobile, identity and access, healthcare, transportation and the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) markets.
The Alliance’s mission is to stimulate understanding, adoption and widespread application of connected digital solutions based on secure chip and other technologies and systems needed to protect data, enable secure authentication and facilitate commerce.
The Alliance is driven by its U.S.-focused member companies. They collaborate by sharing expertise and industry best practices through industry and technology councils, focused events, educational resources, industry outreach, advocacy, training and certification programs. Through participation in the breadth of Alliance activities, members strengthen personal and organizational networks and take away the insights to build the business strategies needed to commercialize secure products and services in this dynamic environment.
For more information, please visit www.securetechalliance.org.
CONTACT:
Adrian Loth
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
aloth@montner.com