Know whether your building needs Low Assurance or High Assurance

Are you not sure what level of access security a Federal facility needs? You are not alone. The OMB, NIST, ISC, FISMA and ICAM has issued a myriad of guidance regarding strong authentication. With no single source providing a comprehensive path, many find that following the requirements can be a challenge.

The Identity and Credential Access Management (ICAM) subcommittee of the Federal CIO Council recently published a road map entitled “Modernizing Federal Physical Access Control Systems (PACS).” This document summarizes the process of “Tying PACS Design to Risk” and applying the results to “PIV Authentication Mechanisms required in a PACS.”

The ICAM document does highlight the one common denominator in all the documents mentioned above: PIV and CAC credentials are to be used as the identity credential to access Federal facilities. It also makes it clear that strong authentication is to be employed before granting access to any area requiring security higher than Level 1 where “NO” assurance is required.

The ICAM road map emphasizes using the traditional CHUID read only in “extremely low risk areas.”

To learn more about whether you building needs high assurance, order BridgePoint’s White Paper that provides an overviews of the entire HSPD-12 program from the Presidential Mandate in 2004 to ICAM in 2011. You can order your copy at HSPD-12 White Paper.