Feds invest $3.7 million in securing online data

The government is investing $3.7 million in projects meant to secure online transactions, ensure the privacy of electronic medical information and combat online tax fraud. The pledge comes from the Commerce Department’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, or NSTIC, which launched in 2011 to fund various private sector pilot projects working on new technologies to secure online data. It’s the same initiative that has been funding numerous projects aimed at developing new ways to identify people online without a password.

“The way we represent ourselves online is fundamental to nearly everything we do,” said Mike Garcia, acting director of the NSTIC National Program Office. “We need more -- and better -- tools to make online identity easier and more secure, and to advance the commercial deployment of privacy-enhancing technologies.” The funding round announced Sept 21 -- the department’s fourth -- will go to several different types of secure online authentication projects.