The FBI is mandating agencies across the U.S. to beef up their security protocols for transmitted data, and Diverse Computing has developed a solution specifically catered to the law enforcement community.
CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) is a branch of the FBI, and its mission is, “To equip our law enforcement, national security, and intelligence community partners with the criminal justice information they need to protect the United States while preserving civil liberties.”
U.S. agencies depend heavily on CJIS data on a daily basis, and connections to this data need to be secure. To drastically improve the security of this confidential data stream, the FBI has mandated that law enforcement agencies use advanced authentication (AA) methods for officers to log into CJIS data systems from terminals like laptops in police cruisers or from handheld devices.
AA (sometimes also referred to as two-factor or 2FA) is a more rigorous method for confirming the identity of the officer who is trying to log in. Simple username and password methods have long been known to be prone to hackers. Most AA methods require a supplemental method for logging in, and this second factor may require something that the officer has in her possession or some physical trait of the officer (e.g. finger prints).
Diverse Computing took on the challenge of developing an AA solution that was designed solely for the LE community to be compliant with this new FBI security mandate. The company asked numerous LE agencies what features were critical for the solution to be easily adopted, and the agencies’ answers included ease-of-use, system compatibility, and flexible second factor options. After many months of software development and testing, we are proud to announce the launch of eAgentX2 Advanced Authentication Solution.
“eAgentX2 was developed with the user in mind," Said Danny Percy, President of Diverse Computing. "Its ease of administration is what separates eAgentX2 from other solutions on the market. We have highly regarded customer service and the advanced technology necessary to keep officers safe and secure on the job.”
eAgentX2 is available with four different methods for second factor retrieval—hard tokens, printable paper tokens, SMS text to a cell phone, or a soft token app for smartphones. By having these four options, LE agencies can pick which method(s) are best-suited for their officers.
For mobile data terminals in patrol cars, many LE agencies use a mobile virtual private network (VPN) to create a secure network tunnel for transferring data. Having an AA solution that can integrate with the mobile VPN system is absolutely necessary, and eAgentX2 is compatible with the VPN providers used by the majority of LE agencies—NetMotion, RadioIP, Cisco, and Columbitech.
eAgentX2 has already been adopted by numerous LE agencies in Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and California.
Read more about advanced authentication for law enforcement on our blog.