NIST meets with digital ID experts globally to win wide framework acceptance

Making and maintaining peer relationships around the world is important for coherent progress in any technology.

That statement, which has been almost universally obvious within the U.S. government (and businesses) for decades has become a little less so in the last several years. And that might be the impetus behind a blog published this week by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Written by Amy Mahn, a NIST international policy specialist, the blog summarizes the agency’s engagement for digital ID and, generally, version 2 of NIST’s cybersecurity framework, often referred to as CSF, with relevant minds beyond U.S. borders.

Mexican business executives and government officials from Italy and New Zealand spoke at NIST’s February meeting about progress on cybersecurity framework update, which is approaching draft status. This spring, NIST published draft ideas in an effort to spark discussions.

NIST officials pressed the same topic in April when it attended the RSA conference. In a presentation and in hallway scrums, they made the case for international engagement with the framework’s update, according to Mahn.

In March, NIST subject matter experts spoke at the European Union Cyber Act Conference, offering guidance about Internet of Things security. Officials also took the opportunity to brief relevant U.S. embassy staff on the framework update.

There also were “critical” meetings involving the U.S., EU Trade and Technology Council, which focus on digital identity. NIST personnel has been working with a council working group dealing with tech standards. At this meeting, they presented for comment the agency’s proposed guidelines for special publication 800-63 Digital Identity.

Mahn said NIST officials missed few opportunities to visit with their United Kingdom counterparts, perhaps in a conscious effort to balance work going on between the U.S. and the EU.

Agency personnel also hosted business and government delegations in the United States to discuss several topics, including digital ID. There were teams from Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and India.

Article Topics

cybersecurity  |  digital identity  |  NIST  |  standards  |  U.S. Government