The US TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Credential) Program achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in November 2004 at four sites in the states of Pennsylvania, California and Florida, with biometrically enabled smart card credentials.
This groundbreaking program is a first of its kind because it represents common credentialing across a very large, diverse group of people working at land, sea and airports throughout the United States. Daon's flexible identity assurance platform, DaonEngine, is being used by the US Department of Homeland Security in this program to deliver identity assurance across multiple physical sites, applications and systems.
The Business Challenge
Recent legislation and security threats have focused attention on the potential vulnerabilities at land, sea and airports.
One aspect of critical protection is the prevention of access to secure areas of the transportation infrastructure through the use of fraudulent identification and/or deception. Security systems can be compromised and identity theft is growing at an alarming rate. The challenge for land, sea and airports is to make them secure for both workers and the travelling public. The ability to quickly and positively identify known individuals frees up limited security resources to focus on other potential threats.
The US Government's TWIC Program is aimed at addressing the security challenges faced in the transportation industry through the use of strong identification and verification technology capable of proving the identity of employees.
The TWIC Program
The vision for the TWIC Program was borne out of the need for a viable, system-wide, common credential for all personnel across all sectors of the transportation industry while eliminating multiple credentials. The participants of this TWIC Program include workers from all areas of the transportation industry - seaports, airports, rail, pipeline, trucking and mass transit. Through this credentialing system, workers can obtain unescorted physical and/or logical access to secure areas. Employee identity verification is done through the use of a smart card containing biometric information. This card is used to verify, beyond doubt, the identity of individuals with access to secure areas of the US transportation system. When fully deployed, it is estimated the TWIC program will support 12 million active credentials. Daon was a member of the BearingPoint team that was awarded the TWIC contract.
Daon was a member of the BearingPoint team that was awarded the TWIC contract.
"Following an in-depth assessment of the rigorous demands of the TWIC program, BearingPoint selected Daon because we were uniquely qualified to provide the core biometric infrastructure to support this critical program. We are proud to have contributed to this effort and to have assisted BearingPoint in winning this contract." Tom Grissen, CEO, Daon
The Business Solution
The use of Daon's biometric identity assurance technology is enabling unescorted physical and logical access to secure areas at land, sea and airports in the US. By utilizing an individual's unique biometric attributes, it makes it impossible for another person to tamper with, duplicate or use the credentials of a legitimate worker. DaonEngine provides the mission critical quality of service required by the TWIC program. Daon's product was selected by the prime contractor due to its market leading capabilities in areas such as:
- Scalability
- Reliability and Availability
- Throughput
- Security
- Privacy
- Flexibility
Requirements for Employee Credentialing Solutions
- Strong Identity Assurance - the capability to deliver the highest degree of accuracy and assurance for the identification and verification of employees
- Flexibility and Interoperability - the ability to support a broad range of tokens or credentials and a broad range of biometric types for operations in heterogeneous environments
- Robust Operational Performance - always-available products and solutions to meet the demanding availability and performance requirements of varying operational sites, both indoor and outdoor
- Cost Effective Implementation and Operations - product and operations support that enables all stakeholders to deliver immediate value
Delivering Value to Stakeholders
Daon's identity assurance platform, DaonEngine, enables land, sea and airports to benefit from using one common, standardized infrastructure for both logical and physical access control, thus eliminating the risk of use of fraudulent or altered credentials as well as reducing total cost of ownership significantly. The DaonEngine platform provides fast and convenient access control for authorized employees as well as solid protection against unauthorized access. Authentication of users through DaonEngine provides a guaranteed proof of identity and delivers a comprehensive, signed audit trail of all user transactions for maximum security.
Daon's infrastructure is also enabling secure mobility across the transportation sector. 
By providing a common credential that allows workers to move freely throughout the transportation environment, they can be identified at any land, sea or airport location and across multiple systems and applications.
Daon specializes in delivering the identity assurance platform, which is key to the success of employee credentialing programs. Daon's technology assists governments and commercial organizations around the world in increasing security, while protecting the privacy of their employees and delivering greater user convenience.
