At the 11th Annual Smart Card Alliance Government Conference last week, the Smart Card Alliance (SCA) provided updates on many of its initiatives. The SCA said government agencies are making progress with implementing physical and logical access control with PIV credentials. At the conference, FEMA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department […]

PhoneFactor Inc., a multi-factor authentication provider acquired by Microsoft, announced the availability of an authentication app for Windows Phone. The PhoneFactor App for Windows Phone extends the PhoneFactor platform to include another option for strong authentication access to both on-premises and cloud applications using the phone a person already carries. It works by prompting the […]

USA Technologies Inc. announced up to 7,500 vending machines in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City will be targeted for mobile payment acceptance powered by USAT’s NFC-enabled ePort technology and ePort Connect service. The Isis Mobile Wallet aims to simplify the shopping and paying experience as consumers make vending machine purchases with a simple tap […]

GlobalPlatform has announced its board of directors for fiscal year 2013 after concluding annual elections for six of the eleven seats. Accompanying the elected the board seats, individual members have been confirmed to serve as Board Officers for the one-year term as well as the selection of a new Mobile Task Force Chair and Strategic […]

The Canadian Forces is expanding its ability to collect biometric data for potential use by other federal government departments, reports the Ottawa Citizen. The military began collecting biometric data on detainees and suspicious individuals in Afghanistan. In April 2010, a directive ordered the military to collect information on other people as well and develop biometric […]

CIBC and Rogers revealed that the first point of sale (POS) mobile credit card transaction— using a secure SIM card housed in an NFC-enabled smartphone— has been made in Canada. According to a report by WMPoweruser.com, the flagship mobile payment was made with the CIBC Mobile Payment app using a Blackberry smart phone from Rogers. […]

Intuit provided a pilot program in the U.K. that will enable small businesses to easily, securely and cheaply accept card payments from anywhere. The new Intuit Pay solution comes from the makers of QuickBooks and will include a free mobile app with a low-cost chip and PIN card reader. The Intuit Pay solution— being tested […]

UPI reports that Australia’s Defense Department will be testing an automated biometric information system that will aid in the production of biometrically enabled intelligence. The system has been developed by Northrop Grumman and is based on the U.S. Department of Defense Automated Biometric Identification System. Australia will conduct a six-month trial to test the system’s […]