August 2020 Monthly Member Bulletin
- Executive Director Message
- Securing Federal Identity 2020 Conference Cancelled due to COVID-19
- Alliance Member Survey Now Available
- Updated Resource: Implementation Considerations for Contactless Payment-Enabled Wearables with Secure Elements
- Council Highlights
- Recent Forum Resources
- Congratulations New Certificants
- Update on Training and Exam Dates
- Follow the Alliance on Social Media
Executive Director Message
The Big Picture of Digital Identity
While COVID-19 has me questioning what the future may bring, it has also given me some time to think about the big picture of the future of digital identity. As many of you may be aware, the Alliance Identity Council and Access Control Council have been busy exploring the technical and business applications for managing identity credentials on a mobile device.
The Alliance’s mobile driver’s license initiative, under the leadership of the Identity Council, has already published a detailed industry collaboration white paper Mobile Driver’s License (mDL) and Ecosystem; delivered a series of webinars that include industry experts, federal and state mDL leaders, and supporting industry groups to present key findings from the publication; hosted in-person workshops on digital identity and mDL use in retail; and are responsible for creating the mDLConnection.com website providing education resources and tracking the progress of state mDL pilots and rollouts. New projects assessing the obstacles that need to be addressed for faster implementation of mDLs and looking further into requirements for mDL use by relying parties are forming now.
Concurrently with those actions, the Access Control Council has started a new industry collaboration project about using digital credentials stored on mobile devices for physical access control. As government and commercial offices expand remote operations due to COVID-19 safety concerns and health regulations, they are forced to secure remote access to networks and virtual systems. Issuing photo ID badges good for physical access is no longer sufficient. The Council will explore ways for mobile devices to be used in a secure way to issue and store mobile identity credentials for use in accessing buildings and authenticating to remote locations and networks.
Digital identity is also expanding into payments. Financial institutions are among the most trusted by consumers and these business relationships often involve extensive knowledge about the individual customer. They also operate expansive global transaction networks that link consumers, retailers, and processors in real time to make risk-based decisions about identity. Those networks and the personal data they manage can be used to authenticate if someone’s digital identity data can be trusted in the same way they authenticate if someone’s payment data is trusted. As COVID-19 moves more commerce to card-not-present transactions, the value of financial networks providing businesses with higher trust for non-face-to-face identity transactions will increase. The Alliance’s global payment network members, processors, and payments technology and services providers will be the early movers and adopters behind this trend.
So the “big picture” of digital identity is very exciting and the Secure Technology Alliance is fortunate to have so many important leaders from diverse ecosystems in the mobile, digital identity, and payments marketplace contributing their thought leadership on these important issues. If you are not a member yet or are a member but not yet active, make your participation is this organization yet one more change you are experiencing during this COVID-19 era.
Sincerely,
Randy Vanderhoof
Executive Director, Secure Technology Alliance
Alliance Member Survey Now Available
The Secure Technology Alliance has launched its annual member survey to understand member satisfaction and get input for the Alliance’s 2020/2021 programs and activities. The Alliance values member feedback and wants to ensure that we provide significant value to the membership.
We’ve shortened the survey this year to encourage broader participation. It will take less than 10 minutes to complete.
The survey is available for member access at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2020STAMember.
Members are asked to complete this survey by Sept. 10th.
Updated Resource: Implementation Considerations for Contactless Payment-Enabled Wearables with Secure Elements
The Secure Technology Alliance Payments Council updated the white paper, Implementation Considerations for Contactless Payment-Enabled Wearables with Secure Elements. This resource provides an overview of the market and applications for contactless wearables and the different models being used for implementation. According to market research and consulting firm Reports and Data, the global wearable device market is expected to grow to over $1.1 trillion in 2026. With emphasis on touch-free transactions to mitigate the spread of germs and bacteria, wearables may see more adoption alongside the uptick in contactless card usage. Mastercard reported a 40% jump in contactless payment transactions just during the first quarter of this year.
Jose Correa, NXP Semiconductors, led the project. Payments Council members involved in the development and review of the updated white paper included: CPI Card Group; Discover Financial Services; Fiserv; G+D Mobile Security; Infineon Technologies; Ingenico; Mastercard; NXP Semiconductors; SHAZAM.
Follow the Alliance on Social Media
The Secure Technology Alliance has enhanced its presence on social media with robust platforms on Twitter and LinkedIn. Here are some ways you can interact with the organization: