MorphoTrust, the North Carolina Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Health and Human Services (DHHS), and their partners, will receive $1.47 million over the next two years to test the security, viability and interoperability of an electronic credential.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded MorphoTrust USA (Safran) a pilot grant to create an electronic ID (eID) to access online services with the same security, privacy protection and ability to authenticate identity as today's face-to-face transactions.
MorphoTrust, the North Carolina Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Health and Human Services (DHHS), and their partners, will receive $1.47 million over the next two years to test the security, viability and interoperability of an electronic credential that promotes confidence, privacy, choice and innovation to meet the guiding principles of the White House's National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace.
The driver license is the document U.S. citizens most rely on to establish and assert their identity, providing access to a wide range of benefits, privileges and services. However, there is currently no equivalent for online transactions. The objective of this public-private partnership is to bring the well-established trust of the physical driver license into the online environment as a low-cost, readily available, yet highly reliable means of assuring that people are who they claim to be in an online setting.
The goals of the pilot are to:
• Prove that an eID can be created that carries the trust of a secure credential and can be used to eliminate in-person identity proofing requirements.
• Demonstrate elevation of trust using biometric multi-factor authentication
. • Define a framework through which states and commercial entities can trust each eID.
To achieve these goals, MorphoTrust will leverage the North Carolina driver license, state ID documents and system of record to create an eID for those applying for the North Carolina DHHS Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Program online. This is intended to eliminate the need for people to appear in person to apply for FNS benefits, reducing costs to the state while providing applicants with faster, easier access to the benefits they need. In addition to the North Carolina DOT and DHHS, MorphoTrust will partner with The University of Texas at Austin Center for Identity, Gluu, Toopher, miiCard and Privacy Engineer Debra Diener for this pilot. “Trust is necessary to enable the growing web economy and ensure the security of our identities online,” MorphoTrust CEO Bob Eckel said. “Working with our partners, MorphoTrust's plan is to facilitate this trust, allowing individuals to confidently assert their identity online, and provide relying parties with the assurance that these identities are trustworthy.”