GSA successfully tests E-Authentication gateway prototype

The General Services Administration’s prototype of the E-Authentication gateway last week passed its initial test and is being geared up to handle transactions for five or six other projects by Dec. 31.Stephen Timchak, the E-Authentication program manager, said his group tested the model gateway with the time and attendance application of the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center.GSA is the managing partner of E-Authentication, one of the Office of Management and Budget’s 25 e-government initiatives.GSA assessed the prototype by logging users on to NFC’s system using digital certificates within a public-key infrastructure that also had PIN and password security. When a user with only PIN and password access tried to log into the PKI access section of the system, the gateway recognized that the user was missing a digital certificate and denied access.“The test showed the gateway can discriminate between different levels of authentication,” he said. “The test went well, and the gateway worked flawlessly.”Many observers consider the E-Authentication gateway the key component to the entire e-government process, making the successful test an important milestone.