Smart Card Alliance Opens the National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security for Education and Collaboration

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Feb. 02, 2016 -- To expand their investment in educating industry stakeholders on how to make payments and identity more secure, the Smart Card Alliance announced today a new training center in Crystal City, Virginia. The National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security will be a permanent facility for live, interactive and dynamic educational activities hosted by the Smart Card Alliance, including workshops, educational courses, briefings, symposiums, and training and certification testing for the Certified Smart Card Industry Program (CSCIP) and Certified System Engineer ICAM PACS Training and Certification Program (CSEIP).

The National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security is located in Crystal City, just outside of Washington D.C. at 2900 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia. Educational programs will be available to both Smart Card Alliance members and non-members. For those unable to attend in-person events, certain activities will be live streamed and/or recorded, and archived as part of an online resource library hosted by the Smart Card Alliance.

“Education is fundamental to improving the way the industry manages security. With this new facility, the Smart Card Alliance will be able to greatly expand education and collaboration programs aimed at improving security across multiple markets and subject areas, including payment security, identity security and privacy protection, through both face-to-face and online events and assets,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

The center has been established through a grant from Heartland Payments Systems in support of the mission to better protect consumers' privacy, and advance the security of payments and identity through education programs on best industry practices and advances in security technology.

Through its active membership composed of leading technologists and practitioners in payments, identity, government and other sectors, the Alliance currently provides a large number of educational resources examining important industry issues or implementation considerations, summarizing best practices and informing stakeholders on latest developments in secure smart card technology. The Alliance also sponsors annual industry events such as the Payments Summit, the Government Conference and the newly-established Security of Things Conference.

The activities of the Smart Card Alliance Educational Institute, which conducts educational workshops at Alliance events, will now become part of the National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security. In addition to being held at Smart Card Alliance conferences, the following training and certification exam sessions will be held at the new training facility:

• CSCIP – a program that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced levels of technical knowledge and understanding of usage models for the smart card industry, and is the smart card industry’s only standardized certification program
  
• CSCIP/Payments – an extension of CSCIP training that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced knowledge of payments usage models for the smart card industry
  
• CSCIP/Government – an extension of CSCIP training that recognizes professionals who undergo training to gain advanced knowledge of government-related identity and security usage models for the smart card industry
  
• CSEIP – a program that provides advanced training for integration engineers on how to set up and test E-PACS¹ to align with mandated certifications required under the federal government’s physical access control system procurement specifications
  

More information on the Smart Card Alliance’s training and certification programs can be found at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/activities-leap-cscip/.

About the Smart Card Alliance
The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.

¹ Enterprise physical access control systems

CONTACT:
Megan Shamas
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
[email protected]