Digimarc Corporation announced that its Digimarc ID Validation Suite (IDVS) system has been updated to support new homeland security requirements for improving the validation of identity for federal employees and contractors who have access to federal buildings and information systems. Digimarc IDVS was introduced last month to help issuers of government IDs meet the goals of the REAL ID Act legislation for enhancing driver license security.
The Federal Information Processing Standard-201 (FIPS-201) for the Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors (PIV) was developed to satisfy the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD 12), which calls for enhancing the identification and authentication of federal employees and contractors. This requires that federal government agencies have the operational capability to collect, verify and archive the documents presented to establish the identity of all current and new federal employees and contractors by Oct. 27, 2005. Such documents may include U.S. driver licenses or state-issued IDs, passports, Social Security cards, military IDs, resident alien cards, travel documents, etc. All current and new employees and contractors of federal agencies are subject to this new policy to ensure that credentials are properly issued.
"Ensuring that federal worker IDs are issued only to legitimate holders is critical to securing our country's federal government facilities and systems," said J. Scott Carr, divisional president, Digimarc. "Federal agencies are now required to authenticate and archive the identity documents of tens of thousands of current and new federal workers and contractors. Digimarc's ID Validation Suite is uniquely positioned to enable those agencies to meet FIPS-201 requirements with a flexible, open authentication and archiving solution that can be integrated into multiple workflows." Carr added, "Our IDVS solution is a comprehensive, modular, ID authentication and archiving system designed specifically to enhance homeland security, authenticate identity, improve citizen safety and combat identity theft and fraud."
The Digimarc IDVS system aids federal agencies in meeting the requirements of FIPS-201/PIV-1 by enabling the detection of falsified identity credentials such as driver licenses and passports and ensuring the authenticity of documents presented to establish a new or existing employee's identity. The system also archives those source or "breeder" identity documents for later analysis or investigative purposes. The Digimarc IDVS system determines whether an ID is genuine, altered or counterfeit by reading and authenticating multiple, machine-readable security features found in driver licenses, passports and other credentials such as IDMarc digital watermarks, barcodes, magnetic stripes, and optical variable image devices.
To further enhance the authentication process, the Digimarc IDVS software consolidates authentication results from multiple features and document designs into a secure archive for a more detailed view by authorized personnel. The system supports a customizable user interface, business rules and internal controls to ensure documents are correctly reviewed, verified and archived. The IDVS system maintains an audit trail of authentication data for later investigation and enables federal agencies to address requirements for retaining printed or electronic images of source documents presented.
Digimarc IDVS can be deployed on a stand-alone basis or integrated into new or existing identity verification, document inspection and credential issuance systems. This modular architecture and support for Microsoft .NET and XML standards enables Digimarc IDVS to be easily integrated into existing legacy systems and databases. Because of its flexible architecture, the Digimarc IDVS solution also enables agencies to choose from a range of Digimarc-certified hardware and software readers, including AssureTec, Intelli-Check and Syscan, and configurable software modules to fit particular workflows and budgets. Additionally, the solution can be customized for integration with legacy hardware systems.
