Single sign-on for public safety

The US National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has released a draft mobile application single sign-on project description for the public safety/first responder sector and is seeking feedback.

On-demand access to public safety data is critical to ensuring that public safety and first responder (PSFR) personnel can deliver the proper care and support during an emergency.

This requirement necessitates that PSFR personnel rely heavily on mobile platforms while in the field, which may be used to access sensitive information such as personally identifiable information, law enforcement sensitive information or protected health information.

The vast diversity of public safety personnel, missions and operational environments presents unique challenges to implementing efficient and secure authentication mechanisms in order to protect access to this sensitive information.

This project seeks to demonstrate a reference design for multifactor authentication and mobile single sign-on for native and web applications, while improving interoperability between mobile platforms, applications and identity providers irrespective of the application development platform used in their construction.

NCCoE cybersecurity experts will develop a reference design to solve the challenge of mobile sign-on through collaboration with members of the public safety/first responder sector and vendors of cybersecurity technologies.

Ultimately, the project and its example solution will aim to help PSFR personnel efficiently and securely gain access to mission data via mobile devices and applications.

The project will result in a NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide (SP 1800 series) that will detail an approach that can be used by public safety/first responder organisations to improve their cybersecurity.

Image courtesy NIST.