NASA chooses Entrust certificates to power PIV cards
04 December, 2007
category: Corporate, Digital ID, Government
NASA will continue its ten-year relationship with Entrust increasing its utilization of the company’s PKI solutions. Via the One NASA initiative, each of the agencies facilities are standardizing on the Entrust Shared Service Provider offering through the Department of Treasury. The certificates empower NASA’s FIPS 201 PIV cards to secure e-mail, digitally sign agency forms and documents, provide strong authentication for Web servers and remote-access user logon.
Entrust Partners with Government in ‘One NASA’ Initiative
NASA leverages Entrust solution, Department of Treasury Shared Service Provider to unify security across agency
DALLAS — December 04, 2007 — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has enjoyed a long-standing, successful relationship with Entrust, Inc. [NASDAQ: ENTU]. Now, that partnership grows even stronger as NASA deploys Entrust solutions to unify their security strategy across all sites and field offices in support of its “One NASA” and HSPD-12 initiatives.
As a science and technology leader, NASA has used Entrust public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions since 1997. This consolidated IT security strategy enables NASA employees to continue to take advantage of existing PKI capabilities while the agency conserves resources by leveraging the Department of Treasury’s Shared Service Provider (SSP) PKI service. All 11 NASA offices, research centers, laboratories and launch facilities, including the organization’s headquarters in Washington D.C. and the Houston-based Johnson Space Center, now use a common infrastructure, improving the security of communication and protecting highly sensitive and valuable data.
“One NASA is a challenging, yet vital, concept that helps NASA optimize taxpayer dollars while improving the security of its sensitive intellectual property and protecting the flow of communication between the 11 physical sites,” said Entrust Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Conner. “After enjoying a productive 10-year relationship with NASA, Entrust is pleased to support the One NASA initiative and the consolidation effort of the organization’s broad security strategy.”
The One NASA initiative is a vital, thought-leading concept that takes advantage of the organization’s technological capabilities and resources to accomplish a vision of space exploration. During NASA’s extensive Security Operations Review, the consolidation of PKI solutions across 11 offices was identified as a way to improve the security posture of the agency.
In order to maximize its IT security resources, NASA is minimizing overhead by using the Department of Treasury’s Shared Service Provider PKI service for digital certificates. The Treasury SSP helped NASA meet the October 2006 HSPD-12 deadline, as well as enabled the agency to further enhance its PKI capabilities.
As part of the overarching strategy, NASA is currently implementing agency-wide smart card logon with Personal Identification Verification (PIV) certificates; secure e-mail via standards-based encryption capabilities; digital signatures for agency forms and documents; and strong authentication solutions for Web servers and domain controllers. NASA also has implemented digital certificates for remote-access users to comply with a June 2006 Office of Management and Budget memorandum (M-06-16), which stated that all government agencies institute two-factor authentication for remote-access users.
The objective of the One NASA initiative is a stronger organization with optimal utilization of the agency’s resources and allocated funds, which will see the headquarters and 10 centers working toward a shared vision. NASA’s goal is to maintain an integrated and strategic focus in its business management through common systems and appropriate standardization.
Since its inception in 1958, NASA’s mission has been to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics. Born from the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), NASA operates 11 total offices — the Washington D.C.-based headquarters and 10 field offices — that collaborate toward the common goals of four mission directives: aeronautics, exploration systems, science and space operations.
About Entrust
Entrust [NASDAQ: ENTU] secures digital identities and information for consumers, enterprises and governments in 1,650 organizations spanning 60 countries. Leveraging a layered security approach to address growing risks, Entrust solutions help secure the most common digital identity and information protection pain points in an organization. These include SSL, authentication, fraud detection, shared data protection and e-mail security. For information, call 888-690-2424, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.entrust.com.
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