The next time you get stopped for a traffic violation, here's something to distract you from thinking about how much your insurance will increase: Back in the police car, the officer will need two-factor authentication to access the database to look up your license number. Don't you feel better?
 
New requirements for accessing the Criminal Justice Information System database require two-factor authentication, and if you're in law enforcement, CJIS is the air you breathe.

Is this another busy-work mandate from out-of-touch federal bureaucrats? No, because they have the same concerns as every company with remote offices, home offices and mobile workers. When you connect your network to a remote network, whatever is on that remote network has access to your network. That’s why many companies go to great lengths to secure home office and mobile systems.

Warren County,Ohio (north of Cincinnati), coordinates multiple police departments, and it recently awarded a contract to the local office of MTM Technologies for a two-factor authentication system based on RSA Security’s RSA SecurID Appliance. Designed for SMBs, the RSA SecurID Appliance comes preloaded with RSA's Authentication Manager software.

We've talked about two-factor authentication before (which is based on something you know, such as a password and something you have like a token or smart card). Back in August I told you about CRYPTOCard's push to "Eliminate Static Passwords" and last November I examined that company’s "Happy Meal Security Pack". RSA leads the enterprise security market and aimed its SecurID Appliance at SMBs upgrading their security.

Geoff Green, Systems Consultant for MTM Technologies, helped propose and install the Warren County system. He says, "Initially we connected between 250 and 300 police officers for two-factor authentication for remote access. This system will grow to over 1,200 users eventually."

Warren County uses a Citrix MetaFrame cluster of servers to support remote communications. The RSA authentication goes through a Citrix Web portal. After authentication, users can access the databases they need for their jobs.

Police officers use Panasonic Toughbook notebook computers in their cars. RSA client software asks for a number from the USB keyfob carried by the officers. The client software uses the number on the keyfob to create the one-time password for system access.

James Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area.