Global e-Identity Trust Ecosystem to Use Single, Trusted Cyber Identity

Ends Reliance on Unsecured User Names/Passwords

TENAFLY, N.J.--()--For the first time, Internet users will have a single cyber identity that can access a broad range of partners and applications in health care and the life sciences without compromising security or patient data.

Currently, separate, unsecured identity credentials, typically based on user names/passwords, are required to access individual organizations (e.g., health care providers) or applications (e.g., electronic health records). Their inherent vulnerabilities have contributed to the theft of more than 150 million U.S. patient records.

The use of single cyber identities is made possible by a recently developed set of standards supporting an Identity Trust Ecosystem in which all participants – relying parties, federation gateways, credential issuers, and solutions providers – meet common interoperable standards of identity trust aligned with U.S., EU, and other global technical and policy standards. The Identity Trust Ecosystem standards were created by SAFE-BioPharma Association.

"Theft of personal protected information and intellectual property is plaguing companies and institutions around the world," said Mollie Shields-Uehling, president and CEO, SAFE-BioPharma Association. "Adhering to this new set of standards will be a large step toward protecting these assets, preventing regulatory violations, and allowing users to have a single identity recognized by all entities participating in the standard."

The Identity Trust Ecosystem focuses specifically and exclusively on allowing a single identity credential to authenticate to any participating application. Every time a credential is used to access the application, the credential service provider verifies the identity of the credential holder and informs the other organizations involved in the process.

Participants in the new Identity Trust Ecosystem will have confidence that the identity of each individual requesting access to their applications has been strongly authenticated before access is provided. Importantly, this automated process eliminates inefficiencies and costs typically associated with identity authentication.

SAFE-BioPharma® standards, in use globally for more than a decade, describe requirements for standardized identity trust for either authentication or digital signing. Users of digital signing credentials can be recognized across the network; currently, users of authentication credentials cannot. The new standards, focused only on authentication, create a broader and more flexible ecosystem for recognition of authentication credentials.

Both sets of standards allow a single, trusted cyber identity credential to be recognized across their respective ecosystems.

About SAFE-BioPharma

More information on the SAFE-BioPharma® standard for digital identity and digital signatures used in life science and health care: SAFE-BioPharma website.

SAFE-BioPharma® is a trademark of SAFE-BioPharma Association. Use of this trademark requires approval from SAFE-BioPharma Association.

Contacts

SAFE-BioPharma Association
Jon Weisberg, 801-359-9977
jweisberg@safe-biopharma.org
cell: 801-860-9977

Contacts

SAFE-BioPharma Association
Jon Weisberg, 801-359-9977
jweisberg@safe-biopharma.org
cell: 801-860-9977