“Texas Instruments (TI) and VeriSign have announced a new model for a drug authentication platform that combines 13.56 MHz RFID technology and a public key infrastructure (PKI) for data encryption. The platform model would allow drug manufacturers to authenticate drugs at the item level and deploy a track-and-trace e-pedigree system through a two-phase deployment. ”

“To be an enhancement to item-level, real-time product security, the Authenticated RFID model aims to strengthen authentication between the tag and any Authenticated RFID reader, between manufacturer and consumer. The model combines ISO/IEC standard 13.56 MHz RFID and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technologies.”

The industry organization, OATH, has released its first deliverable aimed at laying a foundation for royalty free, open standards for strong authentication across networks and devices. The Reference Architecture 1.0 document focuses on four main areas: client framework, validation framework, client provisioning, and a common data model. 

By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor

Using single sign-on, roaming access, and a sonar sensor device, the University of Colorado Hospital can meet not only HIPAA privacy requirements, but give its nurses and doctors faster access and more flexibility in dealing with their patients’ records and actual treatment.

This is thanks to a system set up by HealthCast, based in Boise, Idaho, utilizing proximity readers and sonar technology from RF IDeas, located near Chicago, Illinois. The Colorado medical facility is using 21st century technology that also works with its legacy systems without requiring changes to them, said HealthCast’s Trip O’Donnell, vice president of business development. 

“For the last couple of years,” says Robert Stuart, Product Manager at Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, “smart cards have had to compromise on application capability due to size constraints in integrated circuits (ICs).”

Mr. Stuart believes that this compromise is no longer necessary. That is because in May 2005 Sharp will launch a new version of its 1 Megabyte (MB) smart card with the Java Card Open Platform (JCOP) operating system. 

Synercard Corp., recently acquired by ASSA ABLOY’s Identification Technology Group, will become part of HID, giving the contactless access control card and reader manufacturer digital identity and photo management capabilities. 

Reprinted with the permission of the Smart Card Alliance

Virtually every day another news story highlights the importance of network security - corporate networks are breached, databases are accessed by unauthorized individuals, and identities are stolen and used to conduct fraudulent transactions. As a result, both businesses and governments are evaluating or implementing new identity management systems to provide more secure logical access.