GlobalPlatform announces Identity Task Force
13 May, 2015
category: Corporate, Digital ID, Government, Smart Cards
The U.S. Department of Defense was the first government member of GlobalPlatform back when the standards body first formed in 1999. Around 2006 more government agencies were joining and there was a need for a group to track standards when it comes to identity and governments.
That’s when the started the Government Task Force to make sure that identity requirements around the global were aligning with different standards around the world, says Kevin Gillick, executive director at GlobalPlatform. Two-years ago the Government Task Force completed its road map and published a privacy framework that detailed how to enable privacy attributes within different card specifications.
In the last couple of years the group has re-visited the road map and is looking at mobile platforms and Bring Your Own Device. The task force realized that while government still plays a large role in identity there is much more, hence the Government Task Force transitioning to an Identity Task Force. “We need a more holistic approach to how we talk about identity,” Gillick says. “Identity is about the enterprise and the consumer as well as government.”
The Government Task Force charter has since been rewritten top take this larger approach of the market, Gillick says. The goal will be to serve the enterprise market similar to how the previous iteration served the government market. “We want to let enterprises know that there are existing platforms out there that can help them solve identity issues,” he explains. “We want to make sure that people don’t go out and recreate infrastructure.”
A key goal of the Task Force will be the advancement of GlobalPlatform Specifications to encourage developers to capitalize on the ability of the Trusted Execution Environment and Secure Element to host secure identity services on mobile devices, as well as on traditional smart credentials and embedded into the internet of things.
Philip Hoyer, director of Strategic Innovation at HID Global has been appointed as Chair of the Identity Task Force. The group is comprised of representatives from 40 GlobalPlatform member companies.