Poised to meet increasing demand for interoperable identity management solutions
Fairfax, VA, February 6, 2012 – Data Systems Analysts, Inc. (DSA) announced today that it has partnered with Operational Research Consultants, Inc. (ORC) to begin issuing External Certificate Authority (ECA) credentials to support industry partners' requirements to access certain secure Department of Defense (DoD) systems. DSA's credential issuance team is poised to meet the needs of a wide range of Defense industry partners who interact with DoD systems on a daily basis and increasingly find themselves unable to use ID and password authentication methods.
As noted in the 26 August 2010 DoD External Interoperability Plan, "The ECA program assists system managers in meeting the Defense-In-Depth Strategy by providing a mechanism to identify support contractors and other non-DoD personnel via certificates that are issued and maintained under rigorous practices similar to those used by the DoD PKI itself."
"We're excited to be on the leading edge of enabling Federal customers and their industry partners to meet Federal guidelines for multi-factor authentication to secure portals and business applications," says Charles Cooks, DSA's Vice President for Civilian, Intelligence, and National Security Programs, and executive sponsor of DSA's Identity Management development activities. "DSA's identity credential issuance and PKI authentication consulting services allow customers to meet OMB M-11-11 and DoD CIO policy mandates while supporting the Government's requirement for robust identity management and security capabilities."
As Federal agencies maintain and deploy information technology systems, business partners require identity credentials that comply with increasingly stringent information security and risk management standards. In one of many examples, the DoD's Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) ceased accepting ID and password as a legitimate means for user authentication on January 21, 2012, requiring the use of acceptable ECA Medium Token or Medium Hardware assurance certificates for access. According to the DoD External Interoperability Plan, "The use of ECA certificates by DoD systems is encouraged when communicating with entities outside of the DoD, such as off-site support contractors that don't have access to DoD approved, third party PKI credentials."
DSA's credential issuance capabilities help JPAS users and contractor personnel securely interact with the Federal Government, by providing the means to securely access JPAS and more than 200 other DoD systems.
DSA successfully met all technical, procedural and security requirements necessary to begin facilitating the issuance of Operational Research Consultants, Inc. (ORC) ECA and Federation for Identity and Cross-Credential Systems (FiXs) Personal Identity Verification – Interoperable (PIV-I) compliant identity credentials. DSA is now an approved Local Registration Authority appointed by ORC, a wholly owned subsidiary of WidePoint Corporation [AMEX:WYY], and a DoD ECA certificate authority.
Interested parties can learn more about DSA's full range of identity management and credential issuance solutions at DSA FiXs Credential Issuer. Information about FiXs is available at www.fixs.org. DSA will be conducting credential issuance and authentication seminars in the Aberdeen, MD area in the coming weeks.
About DSA
At DSA, we define success by how effectively we enable our customers to reach their goals and execute their missions. DSA's deep expertise in knowledge management and collaboration, information assurance and security, systems/network engineering, and identity management solutions provides customers with a proven partner in a broad range of IT disciplines. DSA has operations in Philadelphia, PA, the National Capital Region, Aberdeen, MD, NY Metro and the Midwest. For more information, please visit www.dsainc.com or call toll free to 1-877-422-4DSA.
About FiXs
Incorporated in 2004 and based in Fairfax, Virginia, the Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs) is a not-for-profit, certified 501(c)6 trade association comprised of commercial companies, including government contractors, and not-for-profit organizations. FiXs is registered in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom to support the development of identity authentication standards and to provide authentication of personal identity across a secure network. FiXs provides the only end-to-end globally-accessible network that is interoperable with the U.S. Department of Defense. The FiXs Network delivers a secure, scalable capability that allows trusted identity verification and credential authentication for network users desiring access to a range of government and commercial facilities and systems. The FiXs Network meets current federally-mandated requirements, supports physical and logical access applications, and may be integrated with existing organizational personnel and access control systems, while fully leveraging the concept of federation and the FiXs Network's economies of scale. For more information on FiXs and a list of the federation's more than fifty members and participating government organizations, please visit: www.fixs.org.
About WidePoint
WidePoint is a specialist in providing wireless mobility management and cybersecurity solutions utilizing its advanced information technology products and services. WidePoint has several wholly owned subsidiaries holding major government and commercial contracts including, Operational Research Consultants, Inc., iSYS, LLC, Protexx, Advanced Response Concepts Corporation, WidePoint Solutions Corporations/AGS and WidePoint IL. WidePoint enables organizations to deploy fully compliant IT services in accordance with government-mandated regulations and advanced system requirements. For more information, visit www.widepoint.com.