Criterion Systems Awarded NSTIC Pilot Grant

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Criterion Systems today announced that it has received a National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) pilot grant from the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NSTIC is a catalyst to the existing marketplace encouraging new solutions, and supporting open Internet standards for privacy, security, interoperability, and ease of use. The Criterion team’s pilots will test key components of the Identity Ecosystem that make online transactions more convenient and enable secure and privacy-enhancing online access for American consumers.

“user experience and privacy are fundamental to PayPal’s continued success and growth as a leader in rapidly evolving digital world. The pilots are an opportunity to innovate while lowering costs, enhancing user experience, and strengthening our trusted brand.”

“We are honored that NIST has selected Team Criterion to implement NSTIC pilots with leading enterprises where individuals and organizations will be able to lower costs, better trust one another, and grow revenue with minimized disclosure of personal information,” said David Coxe, Co-Founder of Criterion and CEO of ID Dataweb.

During 2011, members of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) open-sourced software to support cloud-based web services to test a global online ecosystem that is federated, interoperable and secure. Criterion will use the ID Dataweb (IDW) Attribute Exchange Network (AXN) open standards platform that expanded on Google’s Street Identity initiative to simplify online identity verification and increase online trust by verifying identity attributes to validate businesses and consumers. The consumer is not charged to participate; online enterprises pay less and, attribute providers and identity providers generate new sources of revenue.

To demonstrate the NSTIC strategy and guiding principles, Criterion added experienced participants including leading online identity providers - AOL, Experian and others, leading attribute providers – LexisNexis^® Risk Solutions, Experian, PacificEast and Internet 2 Consortium/In-Common Federation, leading technology partners - CA Technologies, Ping Identity, Wave Systems, and Fixmo. Debra Diener, Privacy Consultant and Thomas J. Smedinghoff, Partner, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP - Chair of the American Bar Association Identity Management Legal Task Force are also part of the team.

Team Criterion pilots will engage leading retail, financial services, healthcare, and government enterprises with an online identity verification service that can replace passwords, allow individuals to prove online that they are who they claim to be, and enhance privacy.

“User identity and preference management are emerging as strategic initiatives for our financial services customers,” said Rob Krugman, Vice President of Digital Strategy for Broadridge Financial Solutions. “The NSTIC pilots are a first step for Broadridge to introduce innovative services that enhance user experience and privacy, lower industry costs, and drive new sources of revenue.”
Damon Hougland, Head of Identity, PayPal, remarked that “user experience and privacy are fundamental to PayPal’s continued success and growth as a leader in rapidly evolving digital world. The pilots are an opportunity to innovate while lowering costs, enhancing user experience, and strengthening our trusted brand.”
“High levels of assurance for users, devices and data are increasingly critical to managing and securing the enterprise. The NSTIC pilots will examine the externalization and consumerization trends such as BYOD, Cloud, Collaboration and Mobility to assist developing the direction where identity becomes the true network perimeter,” said Daniel Headrick, Senior Enterprise Security Architect, General Electric.

The IDW AXN is an online Internet-scale gateway for enterprises to efficiently access user asserted, permissioned, and verified online identity attributes in high volumes at affordable costs. The user is able to log in by using an identity provider, such as a government agency, bank, e-mail or social network provider with whom they have an established online relationship. This digital credential is used in lieu of creating a new user name and password to interact online with each online enterprise service. The IDW AXN will support various trust elevation methods including interoperability between an identity provider credentials, smart card credentials, and identity linkage to end-user devices (e.g., computers and cell phones).

The IDW AXN promotes user trust, security, and privacy by participating in and contributing to the development of auditable industry standard processes and policies. Users will be able to manage their identity attributes in simple, transparent and secure ways. Strengthening online trust will increase the number and speed of online transactions and decrease related risks and costs, thereby expanding existing markets, mitigating fraud, and enabling new services. Consumers will have the option to no longer enter a user-name and password each time they revisit a website.

About Criterion Systems

Criterion Systems, Inc. delivers innovative, technology-enabled business solutions that allow clients to leverage technology, protect infrastructure and share secure information. The company specializes in systems engineering and design, IT engineering and support, cyber security, and information sharing and collaboration. Criterion has provided critical support to the Intelligence Community, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DoD), federal civilian agencies, and commercial customers. In 2009, Inc. magazine recognized Criterion as the nation’s No. 1 fastest growing services company and No. 10 overall on the annual Inc. 500. Criterion is headquartered in Vienna, VA. For more information visit www.criterion-sys.com.

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