IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Department of Licensing (DOL) spokesman Tony Sermonti explained that identity theft is "a hugely expensive crime."

To combat the ever increasing crime, the Department of Licensing started using a new tool, close to six months ago, called facial recognition technology. It's designed to unmask criminals who use a drivers license photo for any sort of fraudulent activity, such as using someone photo under a fake name.

E-government has matured to the point that federal agencies are now willing to pay a fee for e-authentication services to verify people’s identities online. That’s the conclusion reached by the federal E-Authentication Executive Steering Committee, which approved a new fee-for-service policy in June.

After nearly four years of fits and starts, the General Services Administration’s E-Authentication project is expected, by Sept. 30, to share public-key infrastructure credentials for anywhere from one to more than 200 applications. Several agencies and a few private-sector financial institutions will take part in the initial programs.

A recent national emergency preparedness exercise successfully demonstrated an interoperable, electronic identity authentication system for government and private-sector personnel.

Known as Autumn Blend, the event was coordinated by the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and Northrop Grumman. It included federal, state, local and private-sector emergency response and recovery officials.

"Imagine the impact a state could have on protecting citizens' identities and improving government services if every driver's license they issued was capable of strongly authenticating online and in-person transactions," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "That opportunity is before states now as they define their REAL ID plan to comply with the federal standard, which includes only minimum technology requirements since it faced significant opposition from some states due to costs."

When employees for the City of Chicago file reports on the discharge of wastewater into public waterways, they fill out an online form and press a few keys. Then the document is instantly filed with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. No paper changes hands, no personal signatures are required and nothing ever gets lost in the mail.

"We have to be careful, otherwise our eagerness to improve security can increase spending without improving security," said subcommittee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. "Agencies aren't gaining anything from the cards if employees just wave them at a security guard instead of feeding them through a reader."

Judy Russell, the GPO’s superintendent of documents and managing director of information dissemination, yesterday said the office will apply the technology to all documents agencies submit to www.gpoaccess.gov.

The E-Authentication Service Component does not involve the creation of a central system for managing access to online services. Instead, it would create a common network linking government or commercial entities that provide identity management services with the agency applications that use those services.

E-Authentication Solutions is part of the president’s e-government initiative. “The purpose is to provide credentialing services for outward facing government applications on the Web,” said acting program executive Tom Kireilis.

In a request for information released this week, GSA asked vendors to submit products that meet federal functional requirements by April 15. After reviewing responses, GSA will invite vendors whose products meet the requirements to test them in the E-Authentication lab.

"The eOffer program provides an interactive, secure electronic environment for businesses to submit contract proposals under five GSA multiple award schedules," said FAS Commissioner James A. Williams. "This simplifies the contracting process from start to finish, reducing the paperwork burden for businesses and contracting officers-which translates into substantial savings for the American taxpayer." Williams added, "As GSA's primary procurement and acquisition office, FAS is making great strides to expand and make possible business and citizen access to web-based government programs and services."

It’s been almost four years since the Bush administration issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, which ordered all agencies to adopt a common ID card — complete with a photo, a computer chip with fingerprints, personal identification number and security access information — for all employees and contractors by October 2008.

The Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) have a long-standing record of achievement in information security leadership. In 2004, working alongside the EPA and General Services Administration, CMS and IEPA participated in a proof-of-concept project to test the interoperability of e-authentication technology. CMS has an established enterprise-wide Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) developed by Entrust for state agencies, and IEPA has been recognized for implementing an electronic system for filing complex regulatory documents, with the system's authentication and security infrastructure being based on the Entrust TruePass and Entrust GetAccess solutions.