A group of 10 trade associations called on the Biden administration to consider three priorities to help address U.S. digital identity challenges as it crafts the implementation plan for the National Cybersecurity Strategy.
The first priority is launching a White House task force to accelerate the availability of tools that can protect against identity-related cybercrimes, the trade groups wrote in a Monday letter addressed to Kemba Walden, acting head of the Office of the National Cyber Director and Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology and a two-time Wash100 awardee.
The task force should create an action plan for federal, state and local agencies to develop digital versions of existing physical identity credentials to help address the gap between digital and physical identity credentials and determine whether there are restrictions with regard to the abilities of agencies to offer new digital identity platforms, among other key duties.
“We believe that a new White House task force which brings in key stakeholders from Federal, state, and local agencies, as well as industry and civil society, can craft an approach to close the gap between physical and digital credentials over a one-year period,” the associations wrote in the letter.
The other two priorities are initiating an effort to document the ways that investments in digital identity infrastructure can generate budget savings and prioritizing work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology on identity and attribute validation services with a focus on creating a digital identity framework of best practices and standards.
The letter was signed by the American Bankers Association, Better Identity Coalition, College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, Cybersecurity Coalition, Electronic Transactions Association, Identity Theft Resource Center, National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, Software & Information Industry Association, TechNet and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center.