Interoperable PKI Among Federal Agencies Enhances Secure Communication

After five years of work, the General Services Administration's Federal Bridge Certification Authority has made the public-key infrastructures of four agencies interoperable. For the first time in history, federal agencies will accept each other's digital certificates through the bridge. . . After five years of work, the General Services Administration's Federal Bridge Certification Authority has made the public-key infrastructures of four agencies interoperable. For the first time in history, federal agencies will accept each other's digital certificates through the bridge.

"That is where the rubber meets the road," said Judith Spencer, chairwoman of the Federal PKI Steering Committee. "They can communicate in a trusted fashion, verify each other's credentials in different trusted domains."

The bridge, part of the PKI Steering Committee and the Federal PKI Policy Authority, is a collection of hardware, software, policies and procedures that help make federal PKIs interoperable.

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