Synthetik awarded contract by DHS to develop a digital software badge for first responders operating in disaster response environments
Many first responder organizations at various levels, inclusive of government, local and state, and non-profit agencies each have different methods for identifying first responders on scene during an incident. The lack of an interoperable and standardized credentialing solution for first responders results in more challenges with communication and coordinated access to information, such as the coordination of personnel and for residents and victims who may need transportation, medical assistance, food and shelter, etc.
The current emergency response involves first responders arriving in-person at the scene, communicating via mobile land radio and networked digital applications. Current credentialing solutions like plastic identity badges, such as Personal Identity Verification (PIV), and Personal Identity Verification-Interoperable (PIV-I), are expensive and generally not integrated with field applications and platforms.
Moreover, PIV-based badge solutions are not easily extended to support additional attributes or integrate with resource management applications and logistics in a dynamic environment. Paper printed credentials that are simple to manufacture (such as printed vaccination cards) are easily counterfeited and are not strongly verifiable. Other approaches are more resistant to counterfeiting but use proprietary encodings that in turn are not universally readable. These solutions cannot continue to be effectively and safely utilized as many incidents are dangerous to operate in, have legal protections (crime scene), or un-approved personnel may interfere with or thwart responders’ actions in furtherance of their own agenda or plan (criminal acts/terrorism). A new capability is required to make large scale incident and events safer for the public and responders by ensuring only authorized personnel are allowed to work inside the emergency area. A more flexible suite of credentials and universal verification is needed for our response community to respond to incidents securely and efficiently.
In response, Synthetik has been awarded a contract from DHS to develop a distributed, interoperable, ISO 18013-5-compliant and mdoc-based digital software badge (DSB) that can be operated as a smartphone app, and requires no additional hardware. The DSB will provide the capability to prove a first responder personnel’s identity and qualifications onsite securely and efficiently in a disaster response operating environment.
This project will yield a scalable, profitable digital identity management product that has broad application in industry and Government. The commercial applications for this solution are multi-faceted and include badge replacement, time keeping improvement, and improved system security access for vendors who sell into the first responder space.
Furthermore, as vehicles increasingly become computers with wheels the replacement of car keys, other physical access tokens where logs/permissions for access to systems, facilities or vehicles could benefit from the development of this technology. Building on the wave of innovation occurring as a result of the underlying standards and rapid improvement in smartphones the commercial application market is expected to grow quickly.