Locke announces new office to secure online transactions

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced Friday his department will open a national office dedicated to increasing the security surrounding sensitive online transactions.

Locke said the new office will coordinate the federal government's implementation of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, a part of the Obama administration's Cyberspace Policy Review that aims to provide a secure environment for online transactions focused on authenticating users online.

“The Internet will not reach its full potential until users and consumers feel more secure and confident than they do today when they go online,” Locke said. “A coordinated national strategy to significantly improve online trust will put e-commerce on stronger footing."

Locke made the announcement at a Stanford University event, where he was joined by White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt. Schmidt said a new online ID system could lower the risk involved in shopping online by reducing the amount of personal data companies must collect.

“With the full participation of industry and the general public, NSTIC plans to nurture the development of a secure and privacy-enhancing ‘identity ecosystem’ for the Internet,” Schmidt said. “This identity ecosystem would instill greater confidence in online transactions with less personal information being collected and stored with each transaction, lowering the risk of identity theft.”

Industry groups and lawmakers both hailed the announcement as an important step forward in the collaboration between public and private-sector organizations to secure online transactions. The new office will work with stakeholders to create policy frameworks and new standards where they are needed.

“Identity theft is rampant and growing. Increasingly sophisticated cyber-hackers and thieves continue to steal personal information, bank account data and proprietary information," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). "The NSTIC will take important steps forward to enhance the trust of user and consumer confidence in all of their online transactions."

“Establishing this office represents an important step in the process of protecting the security and privacy of online transactions," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). “It’s a critical piece of the larger cybersecurity puzzle." 

The Commerce Department estimates that worldwide e-commerce totals roughly $10 trillion annually. E-commerce sales were up 13.6 percent over a year ago during the third quarter of 2010, at more than $41 billion. Commerce plans to hold a workshop later this year to highlight its efforts on the NSTIC.

“We are extremely pleased to have a dedicated point of contact to secure the government’s support in creating a more trusted identity infrastructure," said Phil Bond, president and CEO of the industry group TechAmerica, which helped host the event. "We call upon the government to establish an even stronger public-private partnership by creating a private sector advisory committee for the program office.”

“Internet commerce and today's digital society run on trust — people need to know who they are dealing with," Bond added.