Security provider Gemalto’s on-demand Device Administration Service, is getting a boost from two companies that that aim to make it easier for small and mid-size companies to secure their networks.

Alternative Technology and Envoy Data announced at the RSA Conference in San Francisco that they’ll be incorporating Gemalto’s Device Administration Service (DAS) into their offerings. Alternative Technology is a distributor of products and services targeted at the thin-client/server-based computing and wireless markets. Envoy Data is a smart card and PCMCIA technical distributor to the government, military, financial, medical and aerospace sectors.

HID Global announced an initiative aimed to make it easier for companies to use one badge for physical and logical access. The Irvine, Calif.-based identity vendors has partnered with enterprise identity management companies Avaleris, Imprivata and Passlogix to offer more products to customers.

The HID Global IT Channel Program is focused on its Crescendo smart cards. The cards support both physical and logical access and provide support for a number of enterprise applications.

These new IT-oriented vendors offer enterprise applications such as single sign-on, user provisioning, smart card based strong authentication, secure remote access, pre-boot authentication, data encryption and other IT security-related applications.

Atmel Corp., San Jose, Calif., announced the availability of its FingerChip Security Chipset a smaller and less expensive biometric solution. The new chipset is being shown at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

This new chipset combines Atmel’s highly AT77C104 FingerChip fingerprint sensor and the AT91SAM7FP105 FingerChip Security Processor, a low power, 32-bit based co-processor, a biometric solution for PC and embedded applications. Small size is achieved with the use of an embedded biometric matching engine, with a small memory footprints and low processing requirements. The new chipset provides all biometric processing on-chip. Any transfer of data is encrypted and subjected to challenge/response algorithms to ensure protection from different methods of attack.

The Atmel FingerChip sensor also utilizes a thermal-based technology, highly sensitive to the variation in fingerprint topographies. The technology also offers mechanical robustness and strong fake finger rejection.

Fingerprint vendor UPEK Inc. and online age and identity provider IDology Inc. have partnered to offer authentication services to online businesses. The joint solution is being demonstrated at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

The partnership combines IDology’s ExpectID service with UPEK’s Authentication Service. Consumers open an account and answer multiple choice questions regarding information about their past. The questions are derived from IDology searching public data sources for information about the individual. The consumer would also register a fingerprint that would be used to access the sites in the future. It was unclear how consumers would obtain the fingerprint scanner.

“Both business and consumers are increasingly facing online threats and are looking for ways to better protect themselves,” said Jon Dancu, president and CEO of IDology, Atlanta.

WinMagic, an Ontario-based security software company has announced an agreement with fingerprint vendor UPEK to offer new security products that enable users to better protect their data. The companies’ integrated solution is being demonstrated at the RSA Conference 2008.

Enterprise businesses and government organizations face significant risks and penalties when laptops or portable storage media, containing valuable data assets or personal identifiable information (PII), go missing. WinMagic’s SecureDoc’s end point data protection suite safeguards proprietary information and personal information stored on mobile computers and portable media. The agreements adds support for Emeryville, Calif.-based UPEK’s fingerprint authentication.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Fujitsu Computer Products of America Inc. announced its PalmSecure PC Log-In Kit for general availability in North America. The company will demonstrate the biometric authentication solution at the 2008 RSA Conference.

The PC Log-In Kit is composed of PalmSecure authentication sensor embedded in a PC mouse and OmniPass Windows Log-in and Single Sign-On software for entry into Windows sessions and password-protected applications. PalmSecure generates a biometric template that is matched against pre-registered users’ palm vein patterns.

The PalmSecure PC Log-In Kit contains the latest generation authentication algorithm that provides quicker authentication with a user guidance software, and greater tolerance for the distance and angle of the hand when it is placed over the device. The PalmSecure PC Log-In Kit will be available through Fujitsu’s channel partners in June 2008.

Editor Zack Martin examines the missing links in protecting and authenticating online identity for social networking sites, especially for minors. With sites like MySpace and Facebook having millions of users, some younger than ten years old, people want to talk about how to protect the children. But at what cost? And will strong authentication ever become mandated by the government for social networking sites much like new strong authentication requirements for financial institutions? All this and more during a discussion between Zack and host Ryan Kline.

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To see an interview with Ashley Grills and her role in a MySpace scheme linked to a girl’s suicide, visit ABC.com.

But this must change
By Zack Martin, Editor

When trying to get into a bar or club there is typically someone at the door checking IDs. But on social networking sites there is no bouncer, which means there’s no way to tell whether you’re corresponding with a 15-year-old girl or a 32-year-old man.

It’s the same no matter where you go. MySpace, Facebook, and professional networking site LinkedIn, do little to make sure people are who they claim to be. “There is a general feeling that social networking is the wild west of identity management and a lot of bad things happen because proper controls haven’t been put in place,” says Roger K. Sullivan, president of the Liberty Alliance Project management board.

Tampa, Fla.-based Ceelox Inc. has former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft touting the company’s technology. The fledgling biometrics firm has left the research and development stage and is now marketing its data security products.

Deloitte Ireland will begin facilitating secure remote and office-based access through the use of a strong certificate-based, two-factor authentication solution from ActivIdentity.

Deloitte Ireland is using the ActivIdentity solution to provide more than 900 employees with secure remote access to I.T. systems across the firm’s locations in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. In addition, Deloitte practitioners also use a smart card to access laptop and central I.T. systems when working within any Deloitte facility.

The company also worked with ActivIdentity to create a single multi-application smart card, enabling employees to authenticate themselves to all Deloitte Ireland offices and IT systems. The solution is based on Deloitte’s global PKI implementation.