The internet is evidently the most indispensable activity for the generation. We use it to connect with friend, conduct shopping, banking, blogging, seeking medical attention among other. It is used for almost everything. In order to conduct these daily activities effectively, there is a need to develop a way to prove that you are whom you say you are online. Cyber crime has gone a notch higher. Individuals and businesses have suffered losses amounting to billions of dollars yearly. Approximately 12 million Americans have been affected by identity of some kind in t6he past two years. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, identity theft has emerged as the leading and persistent financial crime that exposes individual and businesses to substantial losses. This is echoed by the bulky and unmanageable number of passwords people must remember to use their online accounts. Most people reuse the same passwords for years without changing making it easy for identity thieves and hackers.
The Smart Card Alliance seeks to endorse the NSTIC framework that recognizes crave mistakes in the management of identity, privacy and security of online transactions. NSTIC has actively involved itself in the development of essential fundamental elements that aid in the strengthening of identity, privacy and security in social security administration, immigration, healthcare and other programs in the physical world.
The Smart Card technology through a partnership with healthcare providers, financial institutions payment brands and government users of technology and providers are promoting the adoption of the NSTIC Framework. The Alliance strongly agrees with the incentives of using federal, state and local government agencies to accelerate the development of Identity Ecosystem. At the same time, they are advocating for the leveraging of the existing procedures standards and technology. Technologies such as FIPS 210,federal Identity, Credentialing and Access Management Roadmap and others are vital in achieving Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and Interoperability(PIV-I). It is believed that private enterprises play a significant role in the general adoption and embracement’s of identity management in the business environment. However, the federal development of standards and processes for an Identity Ecosystem will foster and accelerate enthusiastic acceptance.
Smart Card technologies provide maximum security and privacy protection for the user. Their design features makes them virtually impervious to malware, forgery and other fraudulent efforts of extracting information. They, therefore, provide a tamperproof container for [PKI digital identity credentials and biography and biometric identifiers. Likewise, their small size and card format makes them portable and easy to distribute.
While identity issues have presented considerable setbacks to public benefit programs, past efforts meant to address these challenges have not yielded much result to due to a number of barriers. There has been growing concerns about the privacy of the applicant and the beneficiary. The proofing mechanisms put in place have received claims that they may be too invasive to personal privacy. In addition, there has been a public outcry that the information gathered may be inappropriately shared with other parties and programs.
There is also the challenge of high per-user costs of much identity solution. The extent has even exceeded the preliminary budgets of some agencies. It has been difficult to show how these expenses would be recovered. Additionally, the expenses seem inflated especially when the solution would limit its use to a single service. Security challenges have also been cited by some states in demonstrating the ability to conclusively store and secure sensitive information. Finally, the project has not satisfactorily proved that ensuring that commonly used identity proofing strategies has adequately covered all the beneficiary populations.
References
Executive Office of the United States, T. H. (2012). National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace: Enhancing Online Choice, Efficiency, Security, and Privacy: April 2011. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
