Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification

Published

Author(s)

David Cooper, Hildegard Ferraiolo, Ketan L. Mehta, Salvatore Francomacaro, Ramaswamy Chandramouli, Jason Mohler

Abstract

[Superseded by SP 800-73-4 (May 2015, w/updates as of 2/8/2016): http://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=920323] FIPS 201 defines the requirements and characteristics of a government-wide interoperable identity credential. FIPS 201 also specifies that this identity credential must be stored on a smart card. This document, SP 800-73, contains the technical specifications to interface with the smart card to retrieve and use the PIV identity credentials. The specifications reflect the design goals of interoperability and PIV Card functions. The goals are addressed by specifying a PIV data model, card edge interface, and application programming interface. Moreover, this document enumerates requirements where the international integrated circuit card standards [ISO7816] include options and branches. The specifications go further by constraining implementers' interpretations of the normative standards. Such restrictions are designed to ease implementation, facilitate interoperability, and ensure performance, in a manner tailored for PIV applications. [Supersedes SP 800-73-3 (February 2010): http://www.nist.gov/manuscript- publication-search.cfm?pub_id=904797]
Citation
Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-73-4
Report Number
800-73-4

Keywords

authentication, FIPS 201, identity credential, HSPD-12, logical access control, on-card biometric comparison, Personal Identity Verification (PIV), physical access control, smart cards, secure messaging

Citation

Cooper, D. , Ferraiolo, H. , Mehta, K. , Francomacaro, S. , Chandramouli, R. and Mohler, J. (2015), Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=918402 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created May 28, 2015, Updated October 12, 2021