Government Agency Uses Biometric Software For PIV Credentialing System

  • Aug 13, 2010

Aware Inc. recently announced that it has supplied client- and server-based software products for the PIV employee credentialing system of a large U.S. federal government agency.

The software is part of a solution deployed by ICF International subsidiary Jacob & Sundstrom, an IT services firm with deep PIV expertise and experience. The system is used to provide enterprise-wide enrollment of federal employees and centralized data structuring and workflow for issuance of PIV credentials.

Aware's Universal Registration Client (URC) is a software application used to perform assisted enrollment of biographic data, facial images, fingerprints, identity documents, and digital written signatures. In the agency system, this enrollment data is forwarded to Aware's Biometric Services Platform (BioSP), a SOA application server used to aggregate, store, process, and disseminate the enrolled data for various purposes, including background checks and PIV card personalization.

Together, URC and BioSP provide a platform of GSA-approved software components that fulfill the biometric functionality requirements of their PIV system. The Aware system provides ICF International a framework for customization and quick deployment.

"Aware offers a broad biometric software platform that utilizes highly modular building blocks of biometric functionality," said David Simonetti, vice president for ICF International. "As a focused system integrator, this model suited our needs ideally because we needed GSA-approved biometrics software that fulfilled PIV mandates and yet could be quickly customized and deployed in a way that accommodated our customer's legacy systems and specific workflow requirements. The Aware solution also addresses capture hardware obsolescence risks that can impact system maintenance costs going forward, a key factor for us."

URC is a biometric enrollment application that is first used to search the agency's identity management system (IDMS) for pre-enrolled biographic data records. It utilizes Aware's biometric SDKs to perform autocapture of facial images and fingerprints and amend these records with the images and fingerprint minutiae templates along with "I9" identity document scans and digital written signatures. These biometric SDKs also enable the URC application to be used equivalently with a wide variety of market-leading biometric capture hardware devices without affecting the operation or performance of the application.

BioSP provides configuration and deployment management of the URC enrollment application, and offers PIV card-based password access control to the application. Upon completion of an enrollment, URC submits the enrollment data record with images, data, and fingerprint templates securely to BioSP, which -- via programmable workflow -- performs a host of data processing tasks as required by the system. BioSP stores the image data and integrates with agency's IDMS to associate biometric data with identities stored there. It also forwards PIV-compliant fingerprint template objects to the IDMS for card personalization. BioSP also creates fingerprint transactions for background checks and submits these to OPM.

 

Featured

  • AI Is Now the Leading Cybersecurity Concern for Security, IT Leaders

    Arctic Wolf recently published findings from its State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, offering insights from a global survey of more than 1,200 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across 15 countries. Conducted by Sapio Research, the report captures the realities, risks, and readiness strategies shaping the modern security landscape. Read Now

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Motorola Solutions Named Official Safety Technology Supplier of the Ryder Cup through 2027

    Motorola Solutions has today been named the Official Safety Technology Supplier of the 2025 and 2027 Ryder Cup, professional golf’s renowned biennial team competition between the United States and Europe. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.