Florida City Uses Biometric Technology As Part Of Two-Factor Authentication System

  • Feb 04, 2010

The City of Winter Park in Florida has selected DigitalPersona Inc., a provider of fingerprint identity and authentication solutions, to help address the two-factor authentication component of Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) mandates.

Located in Central Florida, rhe City of Winter Park employs approximately 550 people who serve more than 28,000 residents. The City chose DigitalPersona Pro and DigitalPersona Privacy Manager Pro to help secure access to networks and applications used by employees at city hall; central facilities including vehicle maintenance and the department of motor vehicles (DMV), electric division, and water plants; as well as emergency vehicles such as police cars and fire trucks. DigitalPersona's software tightly integrates into the City's existing systems, including Active Directory Services, Naviline and "green screen" AS/400 applications.

Additionally, DigitalPersona Privacy Manager Pro enables sensitive information to be protected through digital signing and encryption of email and documents.

"CJIS mandates advanced authentication. In evaluating solutions, finding an easy-to-use solution was critical," said George Maldonado, systems administrator for the City of Winter Park. "DigitalPersona fit seamlessly into our existing infrastructure and City employees have embraced the solution. This is especially crucial for our first responders in the Police and Fire Departments which can't be slowed down by a new system that is difficult to use."

Before choosing DigitalPersona fingerprint authentication, the City of Winter Park relied on usernames and passwords to secure networks and applications. According to the CJIS mandate, however, the city needed to implement "advanced authentication" such as biometrics, public key infrastructure, smart cards or token-based devices in addition to typical security methods such as usernames and passwords.

According to the City of Winter Park, DigitalPersona biometric authentication addressed the city's need for a security solution that could not be shared between users and wouldn't get in the way of performing critical public and emergency services. Because of the ease-of-use and widespread acceptance of the DigitalPersona solution by the city's employees, the city's IT department has already met the deadline for compliance with the CJIS Security Policy.

"Strict regulations are being put in place across the United States  to better safeguard confidential information," said Jim Fulton, vice president of marketing with DigitalPersona. "Fingerprint biometrics strengthens security and compliance while remaining easy to use. DigitalPersona Pro software helps a wide range of organizations address compliance mandates without disrupting ongoing operations."

 

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