Security is taking center stage in government IT priorities. According to IDC, the administration is planning a 56% increase in spending on security technology in fiscal 2003 to $4.2 billion. Regulations driving security adoption and spending include:

• The desire to make telecommuting more ubiquitous in the federal government. Under a law enacted in October 2000, all federal personnel should be allowed to telecommute by fiscal 2004.

• The requirements toward better and more secure information-sharing between agencies, as mentioned in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

• The enactment of the Federal Infromation Security Act (FISMA), formerly the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA) of 2000, which requires Government Agencies to integrate effective security programs into their network architectures and capital investment plans.

• The USA Patriot Act of 2001 (USAPA), the Enhanced Border and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, and the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, requiring strong authentication capabilities.

In complying with these above mentioned regulations, Government Agencies face numerous IT and operational challenges as they try to implement security systems that protect both network access as well as physical room or building access.

One such problem in government agencies is the complex turnover rates of authorized users of government systems, including a great number of contractors and third parties, who have various levels of access to such systems. This increases risk exposure and creates difficult management problems, especially as escalating e-government process installations and online transactions proliferate to broader third-party populations.

To deal with these challenges, Government Agencies are requiring strong authentication and authorization solutions to foster secure access. A number of solutions are being considered, utilized, and evaluated including biometrics (fingerprint and face recognition) and smartcards. So far the current barriers arising from these solutions include technology ineffectiveness, heavy back end system integration, high costs, complexity, and burdensome management. For large Government Agencies, just the simple password management per person cost is high due to help-desk calls for forgotten passwords (e.g. the court system, law-enforcement departments).

Authernative can help

Authernative has created secure, low cost, easy to use & manage strong authentication, authorization, administration, and auditing solutions. Authernative® AuthGuard® and PassEnabler® solutions will allow Government Agencies to meet their complex needs of securely connecting, authenticating, authorizing, administering, and auditing the growing numbers of dispersed employees, contractors, and third parties from disparate locations and systems.

PassEnabler® will not only allow for strong two factor authentication and authorization management to critical information, but will prove to be a major contributor in reducing administrative workload by allowing for web based single sign-on access. Such capability provides secure access while reducing the number of log-ins required from users. Furthermore, the product will reduce password-associated help-desk costs through its self-reset capability of user authentication credentials.