White House To Release Final Trusted Identity Plan

Obama's Tech Tools

The White House Friday will release the final version of a national identity and authentication strategy aimed at standardizing and strengthening identity management and authentication procedures for online transactions.

The plan is the result of more than a year of effort and collaboration between the White House, industry, government agencies, and privacy advocates.

But the private sector is taking a wait-and-see approach before ruling on whether the plan will resolve a long-time problem of the multiple identities and passwords people use when making online transactions, and the threats to privacy and security they pose.

The Obama administration's National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) "addresses one of the thorniest issues facing those who want to engage in significant or sensitive online transactions: the lack of standard, interoperable, and trusted systems for proving online identity," Thomas Smedinghoff, a partner in the Privacy and Data Security practice at Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon LLP in Chicago, said in an email. Smedinghoff has reviewed and commented on drafts of NSTIC.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Chair of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt are expected to release the plan, which has been in draft release since last June, at an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerceon Friday.

Among other things, it will recommend changes to privacy laws, possible revisions to the liability of online identity providers, and the creation of new government offices to play a leadership role in digital identity and authentication issues.

The strategy also will design and implement what it's calling an "Identity Ecosystem," which will include comprehensive identification and authentication standards and improved definition of the rights and responsibilities of various constituencies involved in online transactions including identity providers and citizens.

The ecosystem also would create an environment in which both public and private service providers can offer people secure online credentials that can work across a range of websites.

The proposal has one security provider concerned that, if not carefully monitored or regulated, the ecosystem could "turn into a free-for-all Identity marketplace."

Identity Finder, which provides security for data used in identify theft, said if not managed properly, the ecosystem could create risks such as the opportunity for "hyper-identity theft" through the creation of powerful identity credentials; a false sense of control, privacy, and security among users; and new markets in which to commoditize human identity, according to a statement.

Others in the private sector expressed concern that the plan, while a fine idea, may not achieve its goals unless the federal government takes the swift action it's promising to enact the plan.

"Like all strategies, it will only be as good as its execution," said Mike Osburn, principal at Booz Allen Hamilton, a top federal contractor who has worked closely with the government on the plan.

He said in an email that while the industry as a whole is behind NSTIC, "The litmus test will be whether it really begins to accept private credentials as a means to offer a more secure, more convenient experience for consumers."