US GSA Initiative

GSA uses Information Cards to demonstrate partnering with industry to authenticate users with appropriate assurance levels while preserving citizen privacy.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has been tasked with seeking ways to more effectively enable citizens to access government online services. GSA has begun the process of determining the appropriate use of  industry Information Card offerings like the Equifax I-Card. So the GSA partnered with Equifax, Azigo, PamelaWare and Meristic to demonstrate how they could use Information Cards to authenticate users to a government demonstration website with appropriate assurance levels, while maintaining security and preserving privacy. The demonstration uses the Azigo card selector and Equifax issued Information Cards. Using Information Cards, the GSA can

•  Provide access that is easy for users
•  Ensure users are who they say they are
•  Support different levels of security or claims
•   Virtually eliminate phishing

The managed card from Equifax is powered by Azigo CardPress and logs into a demonstration version of the recovery.gov Drupal site that accepts Information Cards using the PamelaWare Drupal plugin.

"The government believes that there is a win-win for all of us in collaborating with industry to provide good identity solutions for electronic interactions with the American public." Judy Spencer of GSA.