The 2010 Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA) Board of Directors welcomes their newly elected Chairman Bob Carr, chief executive officer at Heartland Payment Systems. SPVA , a non-profit organization working with multiple stakeholders to establish security solutions for card payment transactions and information, will have Carr serve as associate member director.

Carr’s contribution to developing a secure payments infrastructure is rooted in his experience at Heartland where he headed the development of end-to-end encryption technology, E3.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2010” aimed at improving cybersecurity research, development and technical standards.

The proposed law would create an office for a national coordinator for the networking and information technology research and development program. The law would also establish a program to develop and support identity management efforts.

Gemalto announced that it has acquired Finnish mobile authentication systems provider Valimo Wireless Oy. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Valimo’s technology enables mobile phone users to digitally sign documents and confirm legally binding transactions by entering a self-chosen passphrase or a PIN code. Valimo Mobile ID solution provides secure online banking, mobile payments, governmental services, electronic and mobile commerce and identity and access rights management for enterprise applications.

Unisys announced that its Mexican subsidiary has been awarded a contract by the Mexican Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Citizen Registry to create and manage an advanced citizen identification solution using biometric technologies. The project would create a database with iris, fingerprint and facial biometric data on up to 110 million Mexican citizens that would be used as part of the Mexican government’s larger national ID card project.

The contract, awarded to a consortium comprised of Unisys and Mexican communications company AXTEL, is worth approximately $50 million over three years, with approximately $32 million of the contract value expected to go to Unisys. Unisys will integrate the solution, provide the IT infrastructure and manage the data center hosting the solution. AXTEL will provide communications services as well as the data center facility and the service operations center.

Sagem Wireless, a developer of mobile devices and related services, announced that through a partnership with biometrics developer UPEK they will be releasing fingerprint identity capabilities to a number of mobile devices including Android-based devices. Sagem and UPEK are hoping the new offering to be integral as use of banking and other sensitive transactions over mobile devices increases.

VASCO DIGIPASS is being used to secure employee and cash management at Virginia Heritage Bank, a community bank in Northern Virginia. The bank, which serves individuals, families and local businesses, looks to VASCO security solutions for systems that can improve security for both employees and customers.

The VASCO DIGIPASS Pack for Remote Authentication and has already deployed to more than 100 employees at Virginia Heritage Bank, providing each with secure remote access to company networks.

BNP Paribas of France and Gemalto have signed a two-year contract to supply EMV banking cards and personalization services to fifteen countries. Through the contract, Gemalto will become BNP Paribas’ first EMV card supplier in France, as well as establish itself Belgium through BNP Paribas Fortis.

Gemalto will provide banking cards compliant to EMV Dynamic Data Authentication (DDA), a standard that ensures the highest levels of security by detecting counterfeit and duplicated cards, according to the company.  

SCM Microsystems Inc., a provider of solutions for secure access, identity and exchange, announced that its thumb-sized SCR3500 SmartFold Personal Identity Verification/Common Access Card smart card reader has been approved by the General Service Administration for use by U.S. government agencies and employees.

The SCR3500 SmartFold is ideal for mobile government employees that have notebooks without integrated card readers. It is small–only 48 x 20 x 12 millimeters when folded–portable contact smart card reader that will fit on an employees’ key rings and in their pockets.

Some 4.1 million federal employees, or 71%, have been issued PIV credentials, according to budget documents released by the Obama administration. HSPD-12 and the Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Roadmap and Implementation Guidance also received mentions in the budget documents.

A government insider says this points to how ingrained HSPD-12 and the credential are to federal employees.

Thales information and communication systems now offers payShield Cardholder Authentication for its nShield Connect and nShield PCI Express hardware security systems. Thales’s payShield for nShield authenticates credit card users and protects encryption key transfers, credit card information and assists with PCI.

The system is already adopted in Web-based online banking applications including MasterCard’s Chip Authentication Program (CAP) and Visa’s Dynamic Passcode Authentication (DPA), as well as Visa and MasterCard SecureCode for online payments.