Obama to release Cybersecurity plan.

• Position: CYBERSECURITY

The Obama administration is expected to announce the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) soon. It's an effort to enhance online security and privacy and reduce or even eliminate the need to memorize many passwords through creation and use of digital identities.

Officials say the goal of the NSTIC will be to create an "Identity Ecosystem" in which Internet users and organizations can more completely trust each others' identities and systems when carrying out online transactions with minimal personal information required from the user.

Based on last year's draft announcement, this will likely mean the plan will include a smart card or digital certificate program through which online users can prove they are who they say they are. These voluntary digital IDs would be offered to consumers by government and online vendors for use during financial transactions, such as banking. Experts say such an "identity infrastructure" must be created by the private sector, not the government, in order for users to fully trust it.

According to ComputerWorld, under the NSTIC, the government will work with the private sector to foster the development and implementation of technologies, standards, and policies for better authenticating individuals, organizations, and the underlying infrastructure involved in online transactions.

The NSTIC was spurred by a government-wide cybersecurity review commissioned by the Obama administration soon after it took office. The review recommended several ways to secure cyberspace, including stronger security and privacy controls for better protecting online transactions and interactions.

Administration officials recently announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce would lead the national program. An office is being created that will work with federal agencies and the private sector to identify and develop new standards...