Biometrics vendor UPEK and security provider RSA have collaborated to deliver several products that form the basis for biometrics-based multi-factor authentication using embedded RSA SecurID technology.

Here’s how it works: An administrator issues a SecurID token seed to a user and has a fingerprint enrolled for biometric match. To authenticate to the system, the user swipes his finger on a USB peripheral or built-in fingerprint reader, and upon a successful fingerprint match, a token code is generated for use with an RSA Authentication Manager server.

Access Smart debuted Power LogOn Administrator 4.0 for educational institutions that includes features for identity management, cashless transactions, and building and network access using smart card technology.

Power LogOn Administrator is a security system that’s based around smart cards. The card contains a users’ passwords, credit card account information for transactions and other information that would enable access to data and facilities.

Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School in Washington has issued 1500 cards to date. Future plans for expanding the cards’ functionality include cashless payments for purchases on campus, as well as a program for alumni to remotely access pertinent information. The Power LogOn Administrator Starter Kit starts at $129.99 for a card reader, software, smart card, and 30 time-limited licenses.

Gemalto is providing smart cards to Slovenia for the country’s electronic health project. This new health card is the first in Europe to feature a Java public key infrastructure that will secure the online health system via a digital signature for health professionals.

Cetis, a Slovenian secure document printer, will operate the personalization of the cards and the PKI infrastructure. ZZZS, the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia, is in charge of the National Health Insurance Card System, and will act as system integrator and will issue the cards to the citizens. Gemalto will provide its Coesys Issuance solution to Slovenia that consists of middleware, digital signature capabilities, software applications, applets and cards.

Patrick Townsend & Associates, Olympia, Wash., selected VSSA biometric technology from Valid Technologies as the product of choice to add strong authentication to its enterprise security system.

Companies that want to deploy the Alliance suite of IBM System solutions from Patrick Townsend & Associates can augment the password controls with the fingerprint biometric product from Valid Technologies, Boca Raton, Fla. Patrick Townsend & Associates will also support customers in the extension of biometric controls to legacy applications as well.

Stefan Brands and Google presented Introduction to Digital Identity as a Google TechTalk on January 25, 2007 at Google headquarters.

The video covers many aspects of digital identity, including security and privacy, and is about 58 minutes in length.

Identity management is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of electronic communication and transaction systems. Applications such as electronic commerce, social networking, electronic health record management, government online, and enterprise identity and access management all critically rely on the ability to manage, provision, and authenticate the “identities” of people, devices, processes, and other entities. Three approaches to identity management can be distinguished: silo identity management, federated identity management, and user-centric identity management. Each of these has unique characteristics with regards to security, privacy,…

Watch the video below.

Charlottesville, Va.-based Privaris introduced a new biometric token that enables logical and physical access with one device.

The plusID 75 uses Bluetooth technology to secure access to personal computers. A user presses a button on the token, slides their finger over the swipe fingerprint scanner, and are then able to login to their PC. The token uses Bluetooth with an extra layer of encryption to transmit the login data.

The same token can be used for physical access as well, it has four buttons so it can be used to access different computers or physical areas. A user would hit another button on the device, slide their finger and the credential would be transmitted to the door sensor. The data is transmitted using the 13.56-megahertz contactless smart card frequency.

Singapore may use Dynamic Isolation of Virtualized Applications (DIVA) technology to manage citizen’s digital identity

The government of Singapore has developed technology that allows citizens manage their digital identity with the help of flash-based devices. The OS-independent application, unveiled in October at the Governmentware 2007 conference and named DIVA for Dynamic Isolation of Virtualized Applications is loaded on portable flash-based storage and can be used with mobile devices and PCs. The core function of the software is to verify the identity of the user in electronic transactions, and serves as a form of “mobile identity” and two-factor authentication. DIVA is the next iteration of a previous smart card chip-based technology named DORIS (Digital Online Registration and Identification System), but protects a user’s identity with software rather than hardware tools. Whether individual organizations adopt this new identity protection scheme is up in the air.

Read the full article in BusinessWeek.

Campaign encourages use of information card technology

SAN FRANCISCO, September 24, 2007 /PRNewswire/, Digital ID World Conference–To drive better, more secure user management of Internet identities, the Novell-led open source Bandit™ Project today kicked off the “Control Your Identity” campaign to promote awareness and use of information card technology. Recognizing that millions of people who access Internet services each day are frustrated with entering identity data and managing passwords at multiple Web sites, the Bandit Project has launched an initiative to give users access to “Bandit Cards”–digital identity cards for use in Web transactions. To easily manage their Bandit Cards, visitors to the campaign Web site can obtain the Bandit Project’s open source Linux¹ and Macintosh¹ cross-platform DigitalMe® information card selector and Microsoft Windows¹ CardSpace selector.

Early next year, the government of British Columbia, Canada, will begin tests on an “information card” which will ease and secure citizens interactions with online services. Current access to government services require logging on with a name and password, but the new document to be delivered to citizens has a “digital signature which can’t be changed or reproduced”. The Ontario privacy commissioner has praised the cards, which mean the end of stolen or lost passwords, less possibility for phishing, and less storage of sensitive and personal information.

Read the full article at CBC News.

The Liberty Alliance are taking nominations for proof-of-concept application deployments which incorporate Project Liberty’s open identity standards for the 2007 IDDY awards. In 2006, recipients of the IDDY wards included EduTech, who deployed a solution in New York school, Deutsche Telekom AG with a deployment of Liberty Foundation to 12 million customers in Germany, and the UK Government Authentication Gateway, which provides eGovernment services to around 8 million citizenss. Brett McDowell, executive director of the Liberty Alliance says the awards will “uncover a variety of applications designed to deliver real identity management value to users and organization today and over the long term.”