The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a part of the Department of Commerce, recently issued the final specifications for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards. The cards will be required of all federal employees and contractors by Oct. 27. They’ll be encrypted with biometric data and used to access all federal buildings and information systems nationwide. To verify identity, they’ll use biometric applications such as signature, fingerprint, eye and face recognition. The Federal Information Processing Standard, which was used to develop the cards, specifies guidelines addressing the interface and data elements of biometric information, the technical acquisition and formatting of biometric data, and the algorithms to be used in the PIV system.

PIV pilot programs are currently in progress at several federal agencies, including NASA and the Department of Defense, which has issued four million cards to active military employees.

For more information, visit www.nist.gov.

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