CertiPath Cross-Certified to U.S. Federal Bridge for PIV-I

HERNDON, Va., Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CertiPath, a trusted credentialing authority for high-assurance identities, has been additionally cross-certified to the U.S. Federal Bridge for PIV-I (Personal Identification Verification-Interoperability) level of assurance. The news comes as demand for PIV-I credentials, which allow non-Executive Branch federal employees and others to obtain a credential based on the same standards as the Federally issued credentials, is expected to ramp exponentially in the coming year.  

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CertiPath is the only commercial bridge certificate authority to be cross-certified to PIV-I. With cross-certification to PIV-I now in hand, members of the CertiPath community, including many of the world's largest aerospace and defense companies, gain first-mover advantage in deploying PIV-I credentials across their supply chains to streamline the process of doing business with federal agencies that require medium- to high-level assurance credentials.

"PIV-I represents a major breakthrough in accelerating the pace of delivery, service and responsiveness provided by public-private partnerships and interagency efforts," said Jeff Nigriny, president of CertiPath. "For the first time, we have a consistent interoperable credential standard across all of the US Government and the private sector. We're extremely pleased to bring the potential of this technology and process to address the real-world challenges of physical and logical access across boundaries, and facilitate efficiency and effectiveness in any situation."

The U.S. Federal Government as well as the private sector has long recognized the need for a secure and reliable form of identification to be issued based on rigorous proofing of a person's identity, that would be resistant to fraud, tampering and terrorist exploitation, and that could be rapidly authenticated and deactivated electronically. PIV-I credentials meet that need, bridging the access gap between government entities and private industry.

"We're committed to streamlining the process of doing business with the federal government," said Deborah Gallagher, Federal Identity, Credential and Access Management Lead, Office of Technology Strategy, at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). "CertiPath's cross-certification to the Federal Bridge at PIV-I illustrates how our continued collaboration with industry partners is key to achieving our commitment to efficiency and effectiveness."

The Experts in PIV-I for Physical and Logical Access Control

In early 2010, the U.S. General Services Administration demonstrated the viability of a federated physical access control system (Federated PACS), using an existing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based PACS infrastructure and current standards. Partnering with CertiPath, the demonstration showed how government personnel and contractors can authenticate their identities as visitors to other agencies' facilities using secure, PKI-enabled Federal PIV cards. The converged architecture eliminates the need to physically issue visitor passes and allows certainty that each visitor is still employed and in good standing with their employer. The system extends the value of PKI-based security systems in facilitating collaboration and overcoming fragmented, expensive and vulnerable approaches to managing physical identity authentication and access control.

"The ability for our customers to use a single credential to do business with the federal government is a compelling opportunity," said Gary Schneider of Citi Global Transaction Services, a CertiPath Certified Credential Provider. "With CertiPath's cross-certification to the U.S. Federal Bridge to PIV-I standards, we see limitless potential to support our customers in their quest to truly partner and collaborate with government."

Just last month, CertiPath was named as the test partner to the Federal PKI Policy Authority for PIV-I credentials. Its real-world labs test PIV-I credentials issued by a number of companies, against the most widely deployed systems for physical access control, ensuring that credentials perform as expected in day-to-day environments.

About CertiPath

CertiPath provides the aerospace and defense industry's only public key infrastructure (PKI)-based communications bridge where information can be shared widely, securely, effectively and affordably between partners, suppliers and customers – regardless of the size and scope of the supply chain.

CertiPath's solution tears down the burdensome and costly company, employee and program-centric approaches to identity assurance. Today, organizations in the U.S., U.K. and Europe including Boeing, BAE Systems, EADS, Lockheed Martin, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and the U.S. Federal Bridge (FBCA) are members of this fast-growing community. For more information, visit CertiPath on the web at http://www.CertiPath.com All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

SOURCE CertiPath