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26 July 2012, Piscataway, NJ – Kantara Initiative announces the Recognition of Experian Precise ID as an Identity Proofing service component recognized for performance of Identity Proofing services at Assurance Levels 2 and 3.
The Kantara Identity Assurance Accreditation and Certification Program assesses applicants against its strict criteria ensuring, among other things, alignment with the OMB 04-04 and NIST 800-63 Levels of Assurance 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.
The market for high Assurance Level trusted credentials has further been developed by an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo issued to U.S. Chief Information Officers (CIOs)[1] that requires LoA 1 certified credentials be implemented for new government service web sites within 90 days of the first TFP final approval or when existing websites are enhanced or upgraded and LoA 2 and 3 non-crypto certified credentials be adopted for higher value U.S. Government agency services within the near term.
Kantara Initiative has worked with key market players such as Experian and Symantec to develop an approach where the Kantara Accreditation and Assurance program recognizes service components such as Identity Proofing and Credential Management. Few organizations can perform both services at high levels of assurance. The service component approach allows for components to gain recognition and visibility for stand-alone services and for development of interesting and innovative partnerships to provide full Credential Provider Services that offer both Identity Proofing and Credential Management life-cycle services.
The service component recognition is also in line with the White House’s identity-management initiative to make online transactions more trusted. This effort, known as the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), is aimed at creating a US national Internet-identity ecosystem that uses interoperable technology standards and policies to authenticate consumers, organizations and IT infrastructure.
Kantara Initiative is receiving applications to Accredit Assessors and Certify Credential Service Providers (CSPs), Identity Proofing and Credential Management service components to issue and manage trusted credentials for ICAM and non-ICAM Trust Framework ecosystems. The broad and unique cross section of industry and multi-jurisdictional stakeholders, within the Kantara Membership, have the opportunity to create profiles that add additional criteria to the core Identity Assurance Framework for applicability to their specific communities of trust.
“Experian has become the leading identity proofing provider in the public sector,” said Kerry Williams, group president, Experian Credit Services and Decision Analytics. “Our recent wins with large government agencies, our joint offering with Symantec and now our FICAM Recognition at Assurance Level 3 through Kantara prove we are clearly moving ahead of the competition when it comes to granting online access to services while simultaneously protecting individual users’ identities and therefore safeguarding agency and constituent data.”
“We are pleased to work with Experian as a Kantara member and industry leader to build the verified Trust layer in Identity Services via a scalable component approach which allows for innovation and industry partnerships that enable more trusted services, interoperability and efficiency for public and enterprise sector identity management solutions,” said Joni Brennan, executive director, Kantara Initiative.
For further information or to become Kantara Accredited, CSP Approved or Service Component Recognized, please visit our Identity Assurance Accreditation and Certification center and contact support@kantarainitaitive.org.
About Kantara Initiative: 
 Kantara Initiative is an industry and community organization which enables trust in identity services through our compliance programs, requirements development, and information sharing among communities including: industry, research & education, government agencies and international stakeholders. For more information about getting involved in Kantara Initiative, http://kantarainitiative.org
[1] http://www.cio.gov/documents/OMBReqforAcceptingExternally_IssuedIdCred10-6-2011.pdf