|
Secure Identity Management to meet the new security requirements of HSPD-12/FIPS 201
HSPD-12 and FIPS-201 address the general threat facing government agencies; the unauthorized access to physical facilities and logical assets.
Federal agencies already issue identity credentials for use in granting access to physical facilities. Extending the credentialing process to meet the demands of FIPS-201 can be a monumental task. In many cases, it will require a complete re-engineering of the current credentialing process, including the selection of an interoperable set of compliant technologies, each with their own complexities.
August Schell’s consulting team can provide a total end-to-end solution to address the challenges of FIPS-201 conformance, from the selection of smart card technology, to the deployment of compatible physical access smart card readers, to providing rapid deployment of the credentialing infrastructure into secure enclaves.
Developing an Identity Management solution is a demanding, intricate business.
Digital Identity Management, once esoteric, now mainstream, involves the generation of public-private key pairs and digital certificates signed by trusted authorities. The resulting digital IDs cryptographically protect and enable secure electronic transactions and exchanges of sensitive information for business, commerce, banking, and personal privacy matters. Identity Management systems involve the transfer of digital identity certificates between parties, and rely on Certificate Authorities and other registration authorities to verify and authenticate the validity of each party involved in the transaction. An enterprise level verification system is a network security requirement for businesses involved in e-commerce operations.
The components of computer security that an Identity Management system ensures:
-
Authentication
-
Authorization
-
Privacy
-
Information Integrity
-
Non-repudiation
Technology selection, rules and regulations, agency specific policy, accreditation, card issuance and management, access control, revocation, and digital credential recovery are only a few of the challenges that must be addressed in a comprehensive solution.
Protecting modern systems, networks, and applications is too complex to rely on anyone other than an industry expert. August Schell has proven expertise in implementing Identity Management solutions.
August Schell is a premier, security focused, technology solutions provider serving government agencies involved in defense and national security.
Our staff can provide unique and in-depth Identity Management and security expertise to those enterprises required to deploy an Identity Management solution or required to security-enable the services provided by the enterprise.
Case study: August Schell and the DOD Identity Management Solution (DOD PKI)
Since its inception, August Schell has been involved in the architecture, design, deployment, and sustainment of the world’s largest Identity Management solution which supports all military and civilian personnel throughout the US Department of Defense, worldwide.
August Schell has supported the DOD Identity Management from pilot through full scale implementation in support of the build-up of US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the integration of smart card/common access card [CAC] registration.
August Schell provides hands-on source-code-level implementation of the Red Hat Certificate Authority [CA] and Red Hat Lightweight Directory Access Protocol [LDAP] directory driving the DOD Identity Management infrastructure.
Using targeted performance tools, August Schell has provided performance evaluations of various functional areas of the DOD Identity Management solution to ensure that the system supports the demands placed upon it by a worldwide workforce.
In support of the DOD Identity Management solution, August Schell constructed a lab environment that closely mirrors the production environment and is used to test new software releases from Red Hat prior to deployment. August Schell works directly with the Red Hat core engineering staff to support the efforts of the DOD.
August Schell continues to work with the DOD Identity Management solution to evolve the current infrastructure to meet new security requirements and to meet the requirements of HSPD-12/FIPS 201.
Public Key-Enablement
Public Key-Enabling permits an application to use security services provided by the Identity Management solution. These security services might include: confidentiality; authentication, authorization (used for access control), integrity, and non-repudiation.
August Schell’s Identity Management expertise assures successful PK-Enabled solutions. Our PK-Enabling team provides application system assessment to determine requirements and scope, network environment, potential areas of improvements, and available options. August Schell then modifies, configures, tests and deploys the PK-Enabled applications.
Case Study: August Schell created a software application to track critical materials that, in the event of terrorist attack, could be rapidly located and distributed to the necessary geographic locations under attack. Access to the application was strictly controlled through the use of digital credentials issued from an Identity Management solution. The application was sensitive to the user’s role and would only allow access to data that was geographically relevant to the user’s location and level of authority. Users with higher authorization levels were granted broader geographic vision into the data.
|
Services & Solutions
