CertiPath^SM Identity Assurance Is Cross-Certified; ARINC Certificates Will Make DoD Collaboration Easier

Annapolis, Maryland—ARINC Incorporated today announced its CertiPath^SM Identity Certificates are now cross-certified with the Federal Bridge Certificate Authority (FBCA) to the Medium Assurance Level, through the CertiPath Bridge. CertiPath was recently accepted as a non-Federal Agency Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) under a new U.S. DoD policy.

Using the ARINC-CertiPath Certificate Service now makes secure collaboration significantly easier for DoD contractors. As a third-party CertiPath-certified (3CP) provider of digital certificates, ARINC now can provide certificates that function like those from a DoD External Certificate Authority (ECA), which were previously required for authentication of contractor employees.

A single CertiPath credential is now trusted by industry and by a growing number of government agencies, including the Departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, State, and Defense. ARINC’s CertiPath Certificate Service fully meets the needs of DoD contractors and suppliers for credentials cross-certified to any of these organizations.

“CertiPath Identity Certificates can now be used by DoD-relying parties for authentication to DoD web sites, digital signatures, or encryption,” said Jeff Nigriny, CertiPath President and Chief Technology Officer. “As a third-party CertiPath-certified provider (3CP), ARINC is able to provide very high assurance identities on demand to members of industry.”

The nation’s first commercially-managed PKI Bridge Authority for identity authentication, CertiPath was recently accepted as a non-Federal Agency PKI under a new U.S. DoD policy. The CertiPath PKI was established in 2006 as a joint venture by ARINC Incorporated, Exostar LLC, and SITA SC.

CertiPath has proved its value for several years on commercial projects, enabling many different aviation companies to work securely together with minimal red tape, and saving thousands of hours yearly. With the DoD policy change, many of these companies who are also DoD contractors stand to save thousands of hours more, and will face fewer hurdles in working with the DoD on-line. Major aviation companies currently using CertiPath include: The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin Corporation, BAE Systems Inc., Raytheon Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and EADS/Airbus.

Collaborators and suppliers to these companies can now purchase CertiPath digital credentials from ARINC.  These certificates will also now be recognized in DoD applications the same as the ECA certificates, subject to External Interoperability Working Group (EIWG) approval and Joint Interoperability Test Center (JITC) testing. This will enable them to validate the identity of their employees and digitally sign and encrypt online documents. Employees do not need unique digital credentials for each agency or project, giving contractors and agencies a cost-effective, scalable and reliable way to do business securely online.

ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional headquarters in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001certified. 

Release: 08-066

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