Piscataway, NJ – November 1, 2011: The Kantara Initiative announced today the final approval of their Trust Framework Provider (TFP) program as the only Approved US Government TFP certifying Levels of Assurance (LoA) 1, 2 and 3 non-crypto (non-PKI) [1]. This announcement follows the recent Office Management Budget (OMB) memo to US Chief Information Officers (CIOs) [2] which requires LoA 1 certified credentials be implemented within 90 days of the first TFP final approval for new websites or when existing websites are enhanced or upgraded and LoA 2 and 3 non-crypto certified credentials be adopted for higher value US Government agency services within the near term. Lucy Lynch, Director of Trust and Identity Initiatives, Internet Society, said, “The final approval of Kantara Initiative’s Identity Credential Access Management (ICAM) Trust Framework Provider program marks a major milestone in the advancement and adoption of well-assured credentials for use to access US Government on-line services. This emerging public-private partnership can also serve as an example for the deployment of similar multi-national and multi-stakeholder programs.“ The Kantara Identity Assurance Accreditation and Certification Program [3] is committed to the adoption of the Trust Framework model as the means to build a public-private partnership to assure trust in the identity-based experience of End Users, Relying Parties and Federation Operators. Kantara-Accredited Assessors perform Assessments of Credential Service Providers (also known as Identity Providers) based on the Kantara Initiative’s Identity Assurance Framework. “Consistent with the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), the Federal government has pledged to be an early adopter of credentialing solutions certified through Trust Framework Providers,” said Jeremy Grant, who is leading the implementation of NSTIC as Senior Executive Advisor for Identity Management at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). “Approval of the Kantara Initiative Identity Assurance Accreditation and Certification Program marks a major milestone in the advancement of a public-private partnership toward the realization of a more trusted and secure Identity Ecosystem. We commend Kantara for being the first approved Trust Framework Provider, and hope many other organizations will soon also achieve this distinction.” The Kantara Identity Assurance Accreditation and Certification Program assesses applicants against its assessment criteria ensuring, amongst other things, alignment with the NIST 800-63 Levels of Assurance [4] and grants successful candidates of the program the right to use the Kantara Initiative Mark, a symbol of trustworthy identity and credential management services at specified Assurance Levels. For further information or to become Kantara ICAM Accredited or Certified please contact support@kantarainitaitive.org About Kantara Initiative: Kantara Initiative is a global, open, public-private, technology-agnostic forum comprised of identity ecosystem stakeholders. Its inspired mission is to promote federation interoperability and harmonization; to develop policy frameworks for operational interoperability and to provide certification and assessment programs to grow trust in the standards, products, and service deployments. For more information about getting involved in Kantara Initiative, visit http://kantarainitiative.org/ ### Media Contact Dervla O’Reilly +1-415-731-4487 dervla[at]kantarainitiative[dot]org [1] http://www.idmanagement.gov/pages.cfm/page/IDManagement-open-identity-soluti... [2] http://www.cio.gov/documents/OMBReqforAcceptingExternally_IssuedIdCred10-6-2... [3] http://kantarainitiative.org/confluence/display/certification/Identity+Assur... [4] http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-63/SP800-63V1_0_2.pdf ________________________ Dervla O’Reilly Program & Event Manager Kantara Initiative +1 415 731 4487 business +1 509 757 4487 fax dervla[at]kantarainitiative[dot]org http://www.kantarainitiative.org Join the conversation on the community@ list - http://kantarainitiative.org/mailman/listinfo/community