The FIDO protocol will support a full range of authentication technologies, including biometrics.
The FIDO Alliance (Fast IDentity Online), an industry consortium revolutionizing online authentication with the first standards-based open protocol to supplant reliance on passwords, expands membership within days of launching. NXP Semiconductors N.V. joins founding members Lenovo, Nok Nok Labs, PayPal, and Validity Sensors on the FIDO Alliance Board. New members Diamond Fortress Technologies and Crocus Technology join founder Agnitio as associates, along with Infineon Technologies, a FIDO Alliance founder and sponsor member.
“Within days of launching the FIDO Alliance, we are excited to welcome our newest board member NXP Semiconductors and associate members Diamond Fortress Technologies and Crocus Technology,” said Michael Barrett, FIDO Alliance president and PayPal Chief Information Security Officer. “The FIDO vision of universal strong authentication promises better security, enhanced privacy, more commerce and expansion of services throughout digital industries. NXP’s addition to the FIDO board supports our industry goal to make user authentication easier and safer for all parties.”
“We believe strong authentication, beyond username and password, is essential to secure cloud services and enable growth of the Internet in new applications,” said Sami Nassar, general manager authentication PL, NXP Semiconductors. “NXP brings decades of Bank and Government grade security experience and technology leadership to FIDO and the computing industry.”
The FIDO protocol will support a full range of authentication technologies, including biometrics such as fingerprint scanners, voice and facial recognition, as well as existing solutions and communications standards, such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), USB Security Tokens, Near Field Communication (NFC), One Time Passwords (OTP) and many other existing and future technology options.
The open protocol is designed to be extensible and to accommodate future innovation, as well as protect existing investments. The FIDO protocol allows the interaction of technologies within a single infrastructure, enabling security options to be tailored to the distinct needs of each user and organization.
