Implementing strong authentication practices in a physical access control context can provide employees and consumers with several benefits, primarily in improving security against cyber-attack threats and improving interoperability with other security systems and credentials.

MorphoTrust gave an update on its project in North Carolina to issue electronic IDs to citizens. The company wants to provide a widely accessible means for asserting and proving identity online with a high level of trust without in-person identity vetting.

Physical access control specifications for government buildings are complex. Making sure they’re deployed correctly is paramount and a set of classes from the Smart Card Alliance are designed to instruct engineers of what to do.

MorphoTrak announced that after only a year in operation, access to Hawaii’s MorphoFace Investigate mugshot system is being expanded to all counties in the State. Hosted and maintained by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center in Honolulu, the MorphoFace Investigate system has provided fast and accurate facial recognition searches, based on photos and videos.

Easy baggage check, automatic notifications of gate and delays and even discount codes sent directly to a travelers mobile device are just some of the possibilities when traveling in the future. Airport operators are exploring many different ways to take advantage of mobile devices and other technologies to make getting through the airport as easy of a process as possible.

Selva Selvaratnam, senior vice president and chief technology officer with HID Global, has predicted some identity and security trends for 2015, including moving campus IDs to mobile devices, centralizing identity management and better securing electronic prescriptions

Computer users are not using stronger passwords, according to the annual list of the 25 worst passwords from SplashData. In the fourth annual report, compiled from more than 3.3 million leaked passwords during the year, “123456” and “password” continue to hold the top two spots that they have held each year since the first list in 2011. Other passwords in the top 10 include “qwerty,” “dragon,” and “football.”