Authentify announced that it has been selected to support the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrator’s pilot project for raising the level of trust in online identities.

Known as the Cross Sector Digital Identity Initiative, the pilot is being conducted with the federal National Strategy for Identity in Cyberspace (NSTIC) program and managed by its program office in the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology.

The initiative will demonstrate the viability of leveraging Department of Motor Vehicles’ in-person identity proofing services to create a digital credential that can strengthen online authentication and trust when individuals access online services while also better maintaining user privacy and identity security.

Authentify will provide the infrastructure to issue mobile digital credentials once an identity has been vetted by AAMVA members and out-of-band (OOB) authentication services to validate the identity token’s authenticity when it is used online.

“When you show someone your driver’s license or passport, there is an underlying assumption that the agency issuing that credential did its due diligence, and the credential can be trusted,” said Peter Tapling, president and CEO of Authentify. “The typical credential in cyberspace is usually just a username and password. In today’s online business climate, we need more than a password to guarantee the correct real-world individual is connected to the online identity information. Bridging the gap between the real world and cyberspace when activating a credential or granting online access is the part Authentify provides to the CSDII.”

Developing greater trust and security strength without sacrificing usability or privacy was a major driver behind the NSTIC program. As a grant recipient, AAMVA is working to develop a trust framework for strong digital identity credentials, which other online entities will also be willing to accept.

In addition to AAMVA and Authentify, other CSDII pilot participants include the Commonwealth of Virginia DMV, Biometric Signature ID, CA Technologies, Microsoft and AT&T. The AAMVA CSDII pilot is the third NSTIC pilot project in which Authentify is participating. The other two are being led by Resilient Network Systems from San Francisco and Criterion Systems from Vienna, Va.