The government should mandate the use of tScheme, an
industry standard for guaranteeing secure transactions, said Andy
Ross, director of e-commerce and the internet for the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
Ross was speaking at a meeting in London last week to mark the
fourth anniversary of tScheme, which guarantees authenticity of
online identity to firms.
At the meeting, e-minister Stephen Timms warmly applauded the
scheme, which is at the core of government and industry portals for
the defence and oil industries, but he stopped short of supporting
the call to make it mandatory.
Timms said ID cards, phishing prevention, online voting, electronic
banking transactions and other virtual activities will require
authentication.
"With tScheme, the government set broad objectives and business
experts found the most effective way of delivering them. TScheme
has adapted as circumstances have changed, which would have been
impossible under the traditional model," he said.
David Lacey, IT security director of Royal Mail and chairman of the
Jericho Group, called tScheme an excellent initiative.
"It is time to identify requirements for the next five years.
Security policy is broadening and requires rules that move with the
data," he said.