CISO council considers new authentication mechanisms for feds, citizens

A group of leading federal security officials is exploring ways agencies can break old paradigms for how employees log-in to federal networks and citizens access government services, driven by a whole-of-government mandate to adopt modern authentication practices. Multifactor authentication is a major issue in front of the federal chief information security officer council, according to Steven Hernandez, CISO at the Department of Education and co-chairman of the council. For federal employees, agencies are considering additional options beyond the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card. But Hernandez said the PIV card will continue to be a leading authenticator well into the future.