Smart card credentials are the best choice for online transactions that require higher levels of security and trust within the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) identity ecosystem, the Smart Card Alliance Identity Council reports. The ‘Smart Card Technology and NSTIC Brief’ reviews the NSTIC initiatives and discusses how smart card technology can provide the advanced credentialing capabilities needed to enable high assurance in the NSTIC identity ecosystem. The Alliance states it fully supports the NSTIC vision of an environment where people use a secure, interoperable, privacy-enhancing credential to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions. As the details of the NSTIC identity ecosystem are still being defined, the Alliance calls for action to make sure that the fundamental design supports high assurance authentication and leverages smart card technology, the global standard for strong authentication. The Smart Card Alliance has publicly endorsed the White House’s NSTIC initiative, which aims to improve on the credentials currently used to access the Internet and authenticate identity online, and to create and secure a trusted identity ecosystem.
