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Bioscrypt Knowledge Bank

Learn more about biometric trends from our growing list of resources, including White Papers, Case Studies, Video Demonstrations, and more.

Topics include:

Airport Security
HSPD-12
Biometric Innovations
3D Face Recognition
Fingerprint Sensor Interoperability

NEW: 3D Face – Texas Instruments Dev Day Demo (10 min)

Industries > Government Access Control > TWIC

TWIC - Addressing Maritime and Port Security

The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program is a Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard initiative. The TWIC program provides a tamper-resistant biometric credential to maritime workers requiring unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities, outer continental shelf facilities, and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and all U.S. Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners. An estimated 750,000 individuals will require TWIC. Enrollment and issuance will take place over an 18 month period. To obtain a TWIC, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph and successfully pass a security threat assessment conducted by TSA.

While TWIC may be implemented across other transportation modes in the future, the TWIC Final Rule, published in the United States Federal Register January 25, 2007, sets forth regulatory requirements to implement this program in the maritime mode first.

The program's goals are:

Positively identify authorized individuals who require unescorted access to secure areas of the nation's maritime transportation system.
Determine the eligibility of an individual to be authorized unescorted access to secure areas of the maritime transportation system.
Enhance security by ensuring that unauthorized individuals are denied unescorted access to secure areas of the nation's maritime transportation system.
Identify individuals who fail to maintain their eligibility qualifications after being permitted unescorted access to secure areas of the nation's maritime transportation system and revoke the individual's permissions.

The TWIC Final Rule was posted on January 1, 2007, and reflects input obtained through four public meetings and over 1,900 comments from the maritime industry. This rule does not require maritime owners and operators to purchase or install card readers compatible with TWIC at this time.

The above information has been extrapolated from www.FIPs201.com.

The Bioscrypt Advantage

L-1 Identity Solutions is a solution provider for PIV and other FIPs aligned programs including TWIC. L-1 offers a TWIC enrollment services solution for personnel that work in maritime environments. L-1's enterprise access solutions division Bioscrypt offers the PIV-Station fingerprint reader, the first biometric reader to be certified and placed on the GSA-approved product list for PIV card verification.

Biometrics is an important part of FIPs-based programs such as TWIC by adding multiple factors of authentication for identification processing. Traditionally access control systems have relied on ID cards that can be stolen, lost, shared or copied. With a biometric template, such as a face or fingerprint template stored on the card, there is a secure and efficient way to ensure the person holding a card is the rightful owner.

Typically, there are three accepted ways to authenticate or prove identity to a system or an authorized person.

Something you have - like an ID card.
Something you know - such as a PIN number.
Something you are - a biometric, such as facial features, fingerprints, etc.

When two or more of these are used together for an identification decision it is called multi-factor authentication. FIPs guidelines allow for a flexible environment that can use single-, two-, or three-factor authentication. Bioscrypt provides a variety of fingerprint and 3D face recognition reader formats for various factors of authentication, including:

V-Station - Flexible options for single-, two-, or three-factor authentication
V-Smart - Two-factor authentication combining fingerprint biometrics and smart cards
V-Prox - Two-factor authentication combining fingerprint biometrics with proximity cards
V-Pass FX - Single-factor fingerprint authentication with support for external Wiegand readers
PIV-Station - Multi-factor authentication combining fingerprint biometrics, smart cards and PINs
VisionAccess 3D FastPass - Multi-factor authentication capabilities with cards or PINs and biometrics

To learn more about biometric factors for authentication, view and download the Frost & Sullivan white paper on "the Development of a Bi-Modal Biometrics Business Solution for Physical Access Control." For more information on L-1 and Bioscrypt solutions that address TWIC, contact us.