More schools are now using online platforms to distribute and exchange information, such as course documents and online tests. These same online platforms also serve as an administrative tool, containing personal data on students and staff. To prevent identity and data theft, online applications used by schools and universities need to be protected.

VASCO Data Security Inc., a software security and authentication provider, released a statement advising educational institutions to be more careful and aware of security issues when using online platforms for educational purposes. 

Ceelox has announced that it has finished development of a prototype application that would use Ceelox’s fingerprint biometrics to enable biometric authentication in online environments such as corporate intranets, cloud computing networks and commercial applications like online banking and other personal account-based access.

The solution is designed as a two-factor authentication that uses fingerprint biometric in association with other credentials. 

PhoneFactor’s SSL/TLS authentication project has been officially released by vendors after just one year in the making. Microsoft began releasing patches for all supported versions of Windows last week and the SSL/TLS vulnerability has been addressed by all major vendors without any known problems taking place.

The major vulnerability in SSL protocol is rooted in the SSL authentication gap. This had allowed attackers to mount a man-in-the-middle attack by inserting data and commands into the authenticated SSL communications path. 

Entrust Inc. released a new addition to its certificate management service for publicly trusted secure e-mail certificates that enable digital signature capability and encryption of e-mails and other secure documents.

The standards-based capabilities in Entrust Secure E-mail Certificates are based on the X.509 certificate standard. The S/MIME capabilities are available for both personal and enterprise levels and designed specifically to provide the appropriate identity verification for both environments. Additionally, the certificates come publicly trusted by the most used Web browsers. 

Lieberman Software helps companies with privileged identity management, handing access to root and administrative accounts. “Essentially the keys to the kingdom,” says Philip Lieberman, president and CEO at Lieberman Software.

“We provide a solution that allows all the passwords to be changed, randomized and then the people who are supposed to have access to them are given access at the appropriate time,” Lieberman says.

These types of systems are necessary to meet various regulation from Sarbanes Oxley, the Payment Card Industry, Gramm Leach Bliley Act and FISMA.

Lieberman Software Corp. has partnered with Aquion to resell the Lieberman’s identity management and security management products.

Aquion was chosen as a partner to target the Asia Pacific region, most specifically Australia, New Zealand and India. Recently Lieberman has noticed a demand for privileged account password management technology in that region which is why they called upon the Asia-Pacific supplier Aquion to expose and support their products. 

DigitalPersona has announced it has been selected by Memorial Hospital of Union County in Ohio for a biometric solution to help it meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements for securing electronic forms of patient records.

The solution chosen is the DigitalPersona Pro that will serve to authenticate the hospital’s more than 600 employees when they seek access to specific patient records.