Data breaches are common and even a risk-based, multi-layered defense isn’t perfect. The problem with protecting data will be more of an issues as an increasing number of devices come online with the IoT. Biometrics will play an important role in securing all this data in the future with this new identity ecosystem.

Cathy Tilton has been in the biometrics industry for more than 20 years, though she’s always worked in non-traditional fields. One of the leaders behind many biometrics standards she started in biometrics in the 90s and is now at CSC.

Kim Mills was working in the U.S. Visitor Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program in 2004 when Congress mandated that the Department of Homeland Security implement a biometric-based entry and exit system. Since then she has been involved in a number of biometric deployments, including 10-prints at ports of entry and working on different system for biometric exit of the U.S.

Biometrics became a big part of Janice Kephart’s work after the September 11 attacks, but she’s been involved with the identity market since the late 90’s. She served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology and Terrorism where she was responsible for conducting investigations into counter-terrorism issues and had oversight of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She put together the only Congressional hearing into the foreign terrorist threat prior to 9/11.

Many bold claims were made about facial recognition technology in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Vendors said facial recognition could spot wanted criminals in a crowd and perhaps stop terrorists from entering the country. The reality was quite different as it turns out that the technology works best with cooperative subjects and good quality images.

President Obama signed a budget bill with an amendment that mandates federal agencies deploy a trusted ID platform for citizens to access information. The General Services Administration is assigned the big job on a short deadline but the agency isn’t necessary starting from scratch. Connect.Gov is designed to solve this problem and may be the solution to the government’s identity woes.

A growing number of cities are making it possible for residents to prove their identity to local agencies and institutions without having to present a driver license. With the adoption of municipal ID programs, local and state governments are issuing ID cards to residents – mostly undocumented individuals – who otherwise wouldn’t be able to obtain a traditional ID.