DISA announces digital identity, credential and access management tool

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has announced it is working on a new enterprise identity, credential, and access management (ICAM) solution, Nextgov reports.

The zero trust architecture tool is currently in a prototyping stage, with DISA aiming at piloting with a subset of Defense Department applications at the beginning of 2021.

The move is the latest from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) pushing toward a shift towards digitalization of identities for access.

In fact, as early as 2018, the DoD started trialling behavioral identifiers on smartphones as a potential replacement to Common Access Cards.

More recently, DISA also partnered with the U.S. Air Force to use a combination of physical security, biometric authentication, and signal jamming to enhance personnel mobile security.

The announcement about the new tool was made by DISA during a FedInsider webinar Tuesday, which was sponsored by General Dynamics Information Technology, the company in charge of building the solution.

Talking to Nextgov, DISA’s representatives confirmed the prototype will be deployed in 13 applications across several Defense Department, in coordination with the Defense Department’s chief information officer, chief financial officer, and chief management officer.

Talking at the webinar, Dr. Serena Chan, director of DISA’s Cyber Development Directorate said that while the ICAM solution will not entirely replace access cards, it is geared towards the adoption of zero-trust principles.

“It’s very important to note that ICAM is foundational to zero trust, I think the fidelity that the ICAM capabilities provide us will greatly help that,” she concluded.

Article Topics

access management  |  biometrics  |  credentials  |  Department of Defense  |  digital identity  |  identity management  |  Zero Trust