US guide on single sign-on for first responders

The United States National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has finalised a guide: 'NIST Special Publication (SP) 1800-13, Mobile Application Single Sign-On: Improving Authentication for Public Safety First Responders'.

On-demand access to public safety data is critical to ensuring first responders can protect life and property during an emergency. This often-sensitive public safety information increasingly needs to be accessed via mobile devices, so robust and reliable mobile device authentication mechanisms, which do not hinder delivery of emergency services, are required.

The guide describes how public safety organisations can implement single sign-on capabilities for public safety personnel, use identity federation to authenticate personnel across organisation boundaries, plus enable multifactor authentication with a high level of assurance.

These capabilities can enable public safety personnel to gain access to public safety information efficiently and securely by using mobile devices. The work was done in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Public Safety Communications Research Division.

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