The four levels of authentication and assurance are oft criticized but change may be on the horizon. The oft-criticized NIST Special Publication 800-63 might be revised to something that scales across all markets and industries.

BIO-key unveiled a compact fingerprint reader called the SideSwipe; Intercede announced that a federal agency placed an order to provide its employees with secure identity on mobile devices; Thursby Software announced the availability of its PKard Pro secure browser app on Apple’s App Store and iOS 8 support; Nok Nok Labs released an addition to the Trusted User Interface capability to the FIDO-Ready NNL S3 Authentication Suite; Sticky Password announced that it will offer retail customers a lifetime license of its software during the month of October for National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

MorphoTrust is among the latest round of pilot winners for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The company is working with North Carolina and about half a dozen partners to create an electronic ID for accessing online services that will be issued at the same time as a driver license.

NIST awards Mitre Corp. cybersecurity center contract; Gemalto has been selected by China Mobile for multi-tenant SIMs; Secure Network Systems announces FICAM accreditation; GlobalPlatform expands its support for the mobile services community with device compliance program; the FIDO Alliance announced that the Alibaba Group has joined the FIDO Alliance.

Universities across the country have formed a “cohortium” to bounce ideas off each other and gather information about best practices regarding multi-factor authentication. Internet2 is funding the project from its $1.8 million grant from the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace.

Passwords are not secure and enterprises are actively seeking out different digital identity and authentication technologies to help them secure online assets. Multi-factor authentication can go a long way to preventing many of these breaches as passwords are still the number one way hackers are gaining access to information on computer networks.

Google announced this month that potentially 5 million Gmail logins were “dumped” on the Web. Password manager LastPass analyzed the leaked logins and found a lot of bad email habits among users.

Patrick Harding, CTO at Ping Identity, talked to Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan about how good identity management systems can prevent data breaches and make companies more profitable.

Barclays is taking another step in the fight against fraud with the launch of the finger vein reader, using Hitachi’s authentication technology for its business customers.

Legic had launched IDConnect, an ID aggregation service that enables a consumer to use a smart phone with any LEGIC advant and NXP mifare application; the SAFE-BioPharma Trust Framework has approved Exostar as a Full Service Credential Service Provider; sharing passwords is common in the finance world with almost a quarter – 24% – of employees lending their credentials to other employees.