Viscount Systems, a leading edge high technology supplier of security systems and software announced that the company's product has been selected for deployment by a large U.S. government agency.
“We are beginning to pass some important milestones with the types of projects implementing Freedom systems,” noted Stephen Pineau, President and CEO of Viscount. “Viscount's product has powerful benefi...
Viscount Systems, a leading edge high technology supplier of security systems and software announced that the company's product has been selected for deployment by a large U.S. government agency.
“We are beginning to pass some important milestones with the types of projects implementing Freedom systems,” noted Stephen Pineau, President and CEO of Viscount. “Viscount's product has powerful benefits for US government agencies requiring FIPS-201 security standards, including lower cost and more secure data. As we proceed with pilot projects planned with other key government agencies entering 2012 we expect the acceptance of Freedom technology to accelerate.”
In 2005, the U.S. Government approved a new standard for the security of identification cards issued to government employees, called the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12). It was written with a goal of creating secure and reliable forms of identification that are:
● Issued based on sound criteria for verifying an individual employee's identity (including a full vetting procedure with specific processes for background check);
●Rapidly authenticated electronically via contact or contactless credentials;
● Issued only by providers whose reliability has been established by an official accreditation process with
● Graduated criteria and different security levels, from least secure to most secure, to ensure flexibility in the identification process.
In response to HSPD-12, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Division initiated a new program for improving the identification and authentication of Federal employees and contractors for access to Federal facilities and information systems. Federal Information Processing Standard 201 (FIPS 201) was developed to satisfy the technical requirements of HSPD- 12, approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and issued on February 25, 2005. FIPS 201 specifies Personal Identity Verification (PIV) requirements for Federal employees and contractors.