The US Department of Defense is preparing to adopt sophisticated multi-factor authentication across the board, reports FedScoop.
Speaking at the 2016 Federal Forum, Pentagon CIO Terry Halvorsen said that the DoD plans to replace the Common Access Card—a smart card currently in broad use for personnel authentication—within two years, save for some potential physical access control applications that could remain in place. A new authentication system will likely employ both behavioral and biometric authentication, though the specifics are evidently still taking shape.
It’s an approach being adopted not only by the DoD, but by America’s “Five Eyes” intelligence allies—Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—who are “very close” to agreeing on an “identity standard and methodology” that could apply across the entire multination network, Halvorsen said.
Explaining the rationale behind the move, Halvorsen cited administrative efficiency and the utility of such authentication systems in the field, especially in combat scenarios in which the process of CAC issuance is impractical. He also suggested that the technology is now more readily available, and indeed, as authentication based on biometrics and behavioral analytics becomes increasingly prominent in the private sector, military organizations naturally want to keep in step with these technologies’ advance.
Source: FedScoop
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June 20, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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