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Publications – Privacy

• Assurance Levels Overview and Recommendations.
  The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed this position paper to provide the Alliance interpretation and position on the OMB-defined levels of assurance. Download position paper. View position paper.

• Benefits of Smart Cards versus Magnetic Stripe Cards for Healthcare Applications.
  This brief was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council to describe the benefits of smart cards for healthcare applications and to provide a comparison with magnetic stripe cards. Download brief. View document.

• Best Practices for the Use of RF-Enabled Technology in Identity Management
  The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed this statement and FAQ to describe the industry position regarding recommended security and privacy best practices when using RF-enabled technology for identity management and to position RF-enabled contactless smart cards vs. RFID tags. Download report. View full executive summary.

• Effective Healthcare Identity Management: A Necessary First Step for Improving U.S. Healthcare Information Systems
  Government policy makers are looking carefully at the best ways to improve the efficiency of information systems in the healthcare industry. Much emphasis has been placed on the need for electronic health records for every American, and at ways to exchange those records at the regional, state and national levels. This brief was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare and Identity Councils to introduce the current problems with healthcare identity management, security and privacy, and propose leveraging existing federal standards and technologies already used in other government identity programs. Download brief. View document.

• ePassport Frequently Asked Questions
  The new electronic passports (ePassports) include digital and physical security technologies that are integrated together to provide significantly higher levels of security. ePassports use advanced technologies that secure identities and new processes throughout the entire chain of trust – from manufacturing to use of the ePassport. This frequently asked questions (FAQ) document was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Identity Council to answer questions about how the ePassport works and what technology is used to protect an ePassport holder’s personal information. Download FAQ. View document.

• EPC Gen 2 RFID Tags vs. Contactless Smart Cards: Frequently Asked Questions
  The Identity Council developed this frequently asked questions document to discuss the differences between EPC Gen 2 RFID tags and contactless smart cards. The FAQ has a specific focus on how each technology supports security. Download FAQ. View full FAQ.

• A Healthcare CFO’s Guide to Smart Card Technology and Applications. (NEW)
  This white paper was developed for healthcare CFOs by the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council to outline the key benefits and business case for using smart cards for healthcare applications. The white paper outlines some of the major challenges faced by healthcare CFOs and discusses how smart card technology can provide innovative, practical and cost-effective solutions. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Healthcare Identity Management: The Foundation for a Secure and Trusted National Health Information Network
  Policy makers are looking carefully at the best ways to improve our healthcare system with much emphasis being placed on the need for electronic health records for every American. This effort also includes creating an infrastructure to allow the exchange of these records at the regional, state and national levels. This paper introduces the current challenges and explains why identity management in healthcare is an essential and foundational element that must be made a priority by policy makers in order to achieve the goals of widespread use of electronic health records to support the secure and seamless exchange of healthcare information. The paper also recommends best practices for introducing a healthcare identity management infrastructure–one that provides the needed security and privacy controls that should be specified by policy makers. Download brief. View document.

• Identifiers and Authentication – Smart Credential Choices to Protect Digital Identity
  The Smart Card Alliance developed this position paper to describe the issues with unique identifiers and discuss how smart cards can be used as authenticators when using unique identifiers. Download position paper. View position paper.

• Identity Management Systems, Smart Cards and Privacy
  This position paper describes key elements in the design of an identity management system that affect privacy and security and the benefits that smart cards bring to identity management systems. View document.

• Identity Management Systems, Smart Cards and Privacy: Frequently Asked Questions
  This FAQ answers questions about privacy, security and smart card benefits for identity management systems. Download FAQ. View full FAQ.

• Medical Identity Theft in Healthcare
  Healthcare data breaches and medical identity theft are growing problems as the healthcare industry moves to electronic health records and health information exchanges. This brief describes the security and privacy issues that the healthcare industry is facing and advocates that the industry move to strong identity management practices and technology solutions to improve the privacy and security of health information systems and electronic health records. Download brief. View document.

• NSTIC Frequently Asked Questions
  This FAQ was developed by the Smart Card Alliance to answer questions about the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). Download FAQ. View FAQ.

• Personal Identity Verification Interoperability (PIV-I) for Non-Federal Issuers: Trusted Identities for Citizens across States, Counties, Cities and Businesses. This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council and Identity Council to describe the benefits of FIPS 201, PIV standards and PIV-I framework for state and local governments to enable interoperability and trust across different government issuers for a wide variety of identity credentialing programs. The white paper discusses policy, process and technology considerations related to the implementation of state and local government identity credentialing initiatives. The white paper summarizes important aspects of the current state of policy, process and technology and identifies opportunities to support additional work to further improve each through the use of the PIV-I framework and the PIV standard. Download white paper. View executive summary.

• Privacy and Secure Identification Systems: The Role of Smart Cards as a Privacy-Enabling Technology
  This white paper defines privacy as the concept applies to an identification system and discusses how privacy considerations affect system design and implementation. It reviews how smart cards can provide a privacy-enabling technology for different ID systems, how they interact with other system components (e.g., smart card readers and host systems), and how smart cards can address the growing problem of identity theft. The paper recommends key guidelines for business practices and system designs that can help protect privacy. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Privacy, Identity, and the Use of RFID and RF-Enabled Smart Card Technology – A Smart Card Alliance Brief for State and Local Governments.
  State policy makers are looking carefully at the use of RFID technology in identity cards and the implications that holds for protecting privacy and personal information in identity applications and systems. This brief was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Identity Council to examine best practices for privacy-secure identity systems from the point of view of card technologies. Download brief. View document.

• The REAL ID Act: Why Real ID Cards Should Be Based on Smart Card Technology
  The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed this position paper to provide support for the use of smart card technology to implement state driver’s licenses issued to comply with the REAL ID Act of 2005. Download position paper. View document.

• RF-Enabled Applications and Technology: Comparing and Contrasting RFID and RF-Enabled Smart Cards
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper compares RFID technology and RF-enabled smart cards and describes key requirements in RF-enabled applications. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Secure Identification Systems: Building a Chain of Trust
  This report discusses the importance of a robust chain of trust for secure ID systems. Developed for decision makers, the report summarizes why today’s ID systems are vulnerable, what makes an identification system secure, and what factors need to be considered in developing a secure ID system’s chain of trust. It defines the components of a secure ID system and discusses key considerations for enrollment, issuance, usage and implementation. The report describes how a robust chain of trust can be implemented to authenticate an individual’s identity and ensure the validity of the ID and credential once the ID has been issued and is in use. It describes the role smart cards play in the chain of trust, discusses smart card implementation considerations, and summarizes how smart cards can help to address the key vulnerabilities of current ID systems. Download report. View full executive summary.

• Securing Identity and Enabling Employment Verification: How Do Immigration Reform and Citizen Identification Align?
  The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed this position paper to provide an overview of the importance of proper identification security to the success of immigration reform and to describe how smart cards with biometrics can be an effective technology. Download white paper. View document.

• Smart Card Alliance Response to DHS REAL ID NPRM Federal Register Notice
  The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed and submitted this response to the Department of Homeland Security Federal Register notice, “Minimum Standards for Driver’s Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes,” Docket No. DHS-2006-0030. The response was submitted to the Department of Homeland Security on May 7, 2007. Download response. View full executive summary.

• Smart Card Alliance Response to WHTI Passport Card Federal Register Notice
  The Identity Council developed and submitted a response to the Department of State Federal Register notice, “Card Format Passport; Changes to Passport Fee Schedule,” Docket ID DOS-2006-0329. This notice announced the DHS and Department of State plan to use “vicinity read” RFID technology compliant with ISO/IEC 18000-6 Part C instead of contactless smart card technology for the proposed passport card. Download response. View full executive summary.

• Smart Card Applications in the U.S. Healthcare Industry
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council to describe the value that smart cards deliver in a variety of U.S. healthcare applications. Developed as an educational overview for executives and senior managers in healthcare provider organizations, it reviews key challenges that the U.S. healthcare provider industry faces and examines the key drivers for implementing smart card-based systems to address these challenges. The white paper concludes with profiles of a number of organizations who are implementing smart cards illustrating the diversity of applications that are enabled by smart card technology and the business benefits that the technology delivers to healthcare organizations. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Smart Card Technology in Healthcare: Frequently Asked Questions
  This frequently asked questions document was developed to answer questions about how smart cards work and how the technology is used to manage patient identity and protect a healthcare consumer’s personal information. Download FAQ. View FAQ.

• Smart Card Technology: The Right Choice for REAL ID
  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued its final rule regarding minimum technology requirements for REAL ID drivers licenses on January 11, 2008. The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council developed this brief to describe the benefits to states for incorporating smart card technology into their REAL ID plans. Download document. View full document.

• Smart Cards and Biometrics
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council to describe the benefits of combining smart cards and biometrics to enable strong verification and authentication of an individual’s identity. The white paper provides an overview of biometrics technology, discusses how it’s used for identification and verification, and describes the benefits of using smart cards and biometrics to enable strong verification and authentication of the cardholder’s identity. The white paper includes eight case study examples of identity verification systems that combine smart cards and biometrics, including the Singapore Immigration Automated Clearance System, the Canadian Airport Restricted Area Identification Card, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport workforce ID card, the University of Arizona Keyless Access Security System, the FIPS 201 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC), the U.S. Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), and the electronic passport. Download white paper. View summary.

• Smart Cards in U.S. Healthcare: Benefits for Patients, Providers and Payers
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council to describe the benefits of smart cards to healthcare industry participants. The paper describes the challenges within the healthcare industry and the clear opportunities for the use of smart card technology for security and privacy in healthcare. The paper examines smart card use in healthcare today and suggests additional applications for consideration. Download report. View full executive summary.

• The Top 10 Hot Identity Topics
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Identity Council to provide a high-level discussion of the top 10 challenges associated with current identity systems. This paper covers a range of topics and offers perspectives on how the most critical identity issues can be addressed with policy, process, and technology solutions. Download report. View full executive summary.

• Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative PASS Card: Recommendations for Using Secure Contactless Technology vs. RFID
  The Identity Council developed this position paper to provide support for the use of ISO/IEC 14443-based technology for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative PASS card system and to recommend a technology trial to evaluate the performance of both EPC Gen 2 and ISO/IEC 14443-based technologies before DHS makes a final implementation decision. Download position paper. View full executive summary.