PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Jan. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 2014 was a successful year for the Smart Card Alliance Identity, Access Control and Health and Human Services Councils, all of which made great strides in raising awareness of the ways smart card technology can improve privacy and security in government, enterprise and health markets. The councils also elected new officers and steering committees to lead projects for 2015-2016.
"The need for secure and verifiable identities is a board-level issue for most organizations today," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "Our identity-focused industry councils have made significant progress in 2014, educating on how smart cards 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 2015."
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 2014, the council collaborated with other Alliance industry councils to develop the ISC West workshop, "Mobile Devices and Identity and Access Control Applications." This workshop looked at new uses for mobile devices in storing and presenting secure digital identity credentials for using NFC-enabled mobile devices for physical and logical access. It also examined how to securely provision mobile devices and discuss various data storage models and use cases for mobile credentials for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and PIV-Interoperable (PIV-I) applications.
In addition to the ongoing activities, the Identity Council has announced the leadership for 2015-2016. The officers are:
- Chair: Bryan Ichikawa, Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Vice chair: Neville Pattinson, Gemalto
- Secretary: Salvatore D'Agostino, IDmachines
"I am very pleased to be re-elected as chair of the Identity Council," said Ichikawa. "For 2015, the council will continue to provide guidance on how to best leverage smart card technology to enable trusted, private and secure identity credentials, particularly in developing areas such as online identity and mobile credentialing."
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 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and GSA on important specifications and policies for implementing identity credentials using smart card technology.
To help continue the progress of the council, the officers for 2015-2016 are:
- Chair: David Helbock, XTec, Inc.
- Vice chair: Frazier Evans, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Secretary: Steve Rogers, IQ Devices
"It is an honor to be chosen to lead the Access Control Council. The council will continue to launch educational initiatives and produce deliverables that showcase how the use of a standards-based approach with smart card technology can provide the high levels of security critical for access to IT systems and physical buildings," said Helbock.
Health and Human Services Council
The Health and Human Services Council promotes smart cards for patient and provider IDs to streamline operations workflow, reduce administrative costs, prevent medical identity theft and fraud, and increase patient safety and satisfaction. In 2014, the council educated the healthcare industry through presentations at industry events and other industry outreach. The council led and participated in the HIMSS pre-conference symposium, "Privacy and Security: Challenges and Opportunities in Healthcare Identity," and the panel, "Patient Access: Best Practices in Standards for Patient Authentication," at NAHAM's annual conference. Both sessions highlighted the use of smart cards to streamline and secure processes such as patient and provider identification, prevent data entry and billing errors, and eliminate the creation of duplicate and overlay records.
The council also contributed to the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) research paper on smart card technology and biometrics, "Secure Patient Identification: Feasibility of a Security Role for Subscriber ID Cards." The paper outlines how smart card technology can be an effective tool to reduce medical identity theft, improve privacy, combat fraud by both claim submitters and patients, increase record matching, security and data accuracy, and enable deterministic patient matching in provider systems.
To lead the Health and Human Services Council in 2015-2016, the elected council officers are:
- Chair: Morgan Richard, XTec, Inc.
- Vice chair: David Batchelor, LifeMed ID, Inc.
"I am looking forward to this new role as chair of the Health and Human Services Council," said Richard. "The council will continue its outreach efforts and partnerships with other health industry groups to more broadly engage and educate the industry on the privacy-enhancing and fraud-reducing benefits that smart patient and provider IDs can provide."
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.