US to create national cyber-identity system to boost privacy, online security

April 16th, 2011 - 5:59 pm ICT by ANI  

Washington, Apr 16 (ANI): To boost privacy and security online, American Commerce Department has come up with a plan to create a national cyber-identity system that would give consumers who opt in a single secure password and identity for all their digital transactions.

The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) will be a voluntary system designed to protect consumers from online fraud and identity theft — which hit 8.1 million people last year, at a total cost of 27 billion dollars.

“Passwords just won’t cut it here. We must do more to help consumers protect themselves, and we must make it more convenient than remembering dozens of passwords,” said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

The “identity ecosystem” will create secure online IDs for Americans who elect to join the program, giving them a single credential, which they can use to log on to a variety of websites.

A consumer would use that single credential to log in, with far more security than a password alone would provide, the agency said.

That log in could be anything: a smart card, a cell phone, a keychain fob, or some other type of gizmo. (ANI)

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