The FIDO Alliance recently held an awareness-raising event in D.C., and the organization’s CMO and Executive Director, Andrew Shikiar, is celebrating the signs it delivered of a growing awareness of the importance of secure digital identity.

The policy forum was held in collaboration with the Better Identity Coalition, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), and the National Cybersecurity Alliance. It featured some high-profile speakers including Grant Schneider, the federal government’s chief information security officer; and Social Security Administration CIO Rajive Mathur, who spoke about his agency’s plans “to eliminate passwords” and embrace FIDO-based logins.

There were also important speakers from outside of the government sector. Axton Betz-Hamilton, a victim of identity theft, shared her experience with the crime and the long recovery process it entailed; meanwhile Reverend Ben Roberts of the Foundry United Methodist Church in D.C. discussed his organization’s efforts to help the impoverished and the homeless to acquire official identification – a critical necessity when it comes to accessing social services and trying to find employment.

As Shikiar notes, “we need to be aware there are people without access to basic identity documentation and ensure that this large population of people isn’t left behind.” But once official ID is acquired, making sure it is secure is another important matter, especially as a growing number of online transactions require users to share sensitive personal data. That’s where the FIDO Alliance’s strong online authentication standards can make a huge difference, and it’s one reason that a growing number of government authorities are getting onboard with FIDO and participating in events like the 2019 policy forum.

Source: FIDO Alliance