Liberty Alliance’s openLiberty.org project is dedicated to developing “secure and privacy-respecting identity-based applications based on Liberty Alliance standards”. Today, the alliance has submitted the Identity Governance Framework (IGF), a programmatic framework designed to solve regulatory requirements for organizations that must share personal data securely and and confidently between applications. The Liberty Alliance consists of nearly 50 members representing such players as HP, Intel, Internet2/Shibboleth and OpenSAML, and Oracle. Anyone interested in advancing open source Liberty Web Services and IGF implementations can join the project at openLiberty.org. The project will develop a set of open source libraries and technologies based on the Apache 2.0, easing the development of products that consume, provide and manage identity-related information.

Aptika, a Canadian company specializing in ID card software, hardware and services, integrating high-performance security technologies including digital pictures, electronic signatures, barcodes, fingerprints, holograms, and other security options, is launching its new website. The company offers a complete solution for identity management.

Entrust has supplied a royalty-free license to Sun Microsystems for a key component in an open-source PKI. Entrust’s patent on certificate revocation list points allow greater efficiency and reduced network traffic for managing certificate revocation lists, used to track revoked users’ security credentials and associated rights. Intellectual property issues have slowed the adoption of PKI-enabled applications among the open source community, and Entrust has now increased the value of the applications that use the enhanced open source security libraries.

By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor

While some of the more costly elements that could have been forced on states to comply with the Real ID Act haven’t materialized – at least in the proposed rules that have come out of Washington. Still, there is anxiety over the act itself, its cost, and whether states can meet the compliance deadline that’s now less than one year away. One person who helped draft the recommendations for establishment of the Real ID Act believes states should stop worrying about complying and work at developing a partnership with the federal government that would make Real ID execution simpler.

SafeNet has been chosen by the Security Biometric Clearing Network (SBCN) to secure and support the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Registered Traveler program. SBCN provides the security and biometric services of the TSA’s Registered Traveler system. The Registered Travel program was set up by the TSA to allow passengers to voluntarily submit to a government screening process. Once approved, passengers can take advantage of an expedited screening process at participating airports. SBCN wanted the highest level of hardware security available in order to protect the information on America’s transportation system and the identities of travelers participating in the Registered Traveler program, and SafeNet has been selected to provide that.