Poly hosts workshop on digital identity

Abuse of one’s digital identity is a key factor in cybercrimes such as phishing, identity theft and online fraud, as well as many offline crimes such as terrorism.

To address this timely issue, Poly hosted a Digital Identity Systems Workshop on Sept. 20 that brought together leading experts from industry and academia. The assembled guests included experts on digital identity systems problems, developers of recently proposed solutions, and researchers exploring new directions, particularly for the financial services community. In addition to leading academics, information technology experts from companies such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft were among the more than 150 attendees.

The event kicked off with a keynote address from Phil Windley, an associate professor of computer science at Brigham Young University. The address was followed by three interactive workshops. Each considered various aspects of cyber-security today, such as the perspective of the financial industry perspective, the current state of digital identity systems, and technology advances in authentication and trust management. The final session consisted of a panel discussion on breaking down barriers to deployment.

The day concluded with a dinner and a speech by Gary R. Gordon, professor of economic crimes programs at Utica College and the executive director of its Center for Identity Management and Information Protection.

The event was organized by Professor of Computer and Information Science Nasir Memon, a nationally-renowned expert on cyber-security, and William Hery, director of Poly's Information Systems and Internet Security Lab.

Phil Windley of Brigham Young University, who delivered the Workshop's keynote address, with (from left to right) Poly's Associate Provost Kurt Becker, Prof. William Hery, Prof. Nasir Memon and Provost Erich Kunhardt

Mark Althouse (l), technical lead, Department of Defense, speaks with Dan Shutzer, executive director, Financial Services Technology Consortium, at the Digital Identity Systems Workshop