Priva Deploys its CLEARED® Security Platform at Baltimore’s BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport...
BALTIMORE – Sep 17, 2008 – Priva Technologies, Inc. Chairman Jeff Minushkin announced today that the company has deployed its Cleared® Security Platform at Baltimore’s BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in a government-approved biometric airport access control security program.
The program, called SecureScreen, is a joint effort of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Southwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association (SWAPA), Coalition of Airline Pilots’ Associations and Priva Technologies with support from BWI and the Maryland Aviation Administration.
“Government and industry have formed a powerful partnership that is at the cutting edge in moving to the next generation in aviation security,” Minushkin says. “We are proud to be part of this important effort.”
The SecureScreen program is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the U.S. aviation security system by providing TSA with positive biometric identification of individuals entering the system. It will also help cut down on congestion at passenger screening points.
SWAPA pilots participating in SecureScreen undergo a quick enrollment process using the Cleared Security Platform, which stores their fingerprints, photograph, and other protected security information on a ClearedKey™. The ClearedKey data can only be accessed by TSA at a security checkpoint, where the ClearedKey reader verifies the pilot’s fingerprint and also provides an additional layer of security by showing the TSA agent the pilot’s photograph. After positive identification, TSA clears the pilot to proceed into the secure area to report for flight duty.
“We fully expect to get a green light from TSA to expand the program. Our goal is to make the program permanent,” says Carl Kuwitzky, President of the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association.
ClearedKey utilizes the only commercially-available, biometrically-enabled microchip with the government's FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification. “This chip gives the Cleared Security Platform industrial strength protection against intrusion and misuse of enrolled individuals’ credentials,” says Priva’s Charles Chambers, who recently joined the company from Airports Council International-North America where he was the association’s security chief.
Alvy Dodson, a former TSA Federal Security Director who joined Priva as Executive Vice President of the company’s Cleared Travel Corporation subsidiary is overseeing the SecureScreen program. Dodson says: “the Cleared Security Platform is a significant technological breakthrough that squarely addresses 9/11 Congressional mandates to integrate biometric identifiers into airport security access control systems.”
Chambers adds that “in addition to passenger and baggage screening, effective airport security must also deal with ‘back door’ issues. Priva’s ClearedKey™ provides a powerful biometrically enabled tool for identity verification and access control for employees.””
About Priva Technologies
Founded in 1999, Priva Technologies is a privately-held Delaware Corporation that specializes in the development of advanced hardware and software-based authentication security platforms for the government, enterprise and consumer markets. Priva Technologies' flagship product, The Cleared® Security Platform™, is the most comprehensive and powerful authentication solution available today. The company is headquartered in Chicago, IL with research and development in Annapolis, MD, and Cupertino, CA. For more information, please visit www.cleared.com. The company was recently approved by the Transportation Security Administration as a service provider for its Registered Traveler program.
Priva Technologies, Inc.
John Grimaldi,
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