"Google brings insights to implementing strong authentication at scale and illustrates how to bring pioneering research and initiatives into the FIDO Alliance,” said the organization’s vice president and founder of Nok Nok Labs, Ramesh Kesanupalli, in a statement.
First launched in February, FIDO is questing after standards-based open specifications for overcoming password dependency with universal strong authentication. It’s a worthy goal, and reports that others think so too: In the two months since launching, the FIDO Alliance has more than doubled its membership and expanded globally with new representation from Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and Sweden.
Google, NXP and CrucialTec have joined the FIDO Alliance Board of Directors, joining founding members Lenovo, Nok Nok Labs, PayPal and Validity.
Founding sponsor member Infineon Technologies has meanwhile been joined by Entersekt and Fingerprint Cards (FPC), and founding associate member Agnitio has been joined by five new members -- Allweb Technologies, Check2Protect, Crocus Technology, Diamond Fortress Technologies and Insyndia Global.
"We are very pleased to count these outstanding global leaders among the ranks of the FIDO Alliance," said Michael Barrett, FIDO Alliance president and PayPal CISO. "FIDO is compelling to those who can lead and affect change, because the open FIDO specifications promise to restore trust with stronger security that also simplifies the user experience and ensures privacy. By overcoming the limits of proprietary authentication methods, FIDO opens up a vast marketplace for strong authentication where FIDO enabled devices and services interoperate. We encourage all who require secure user authentication, and those who provide various methodologies to join us on a very fast track to FIDO universal strong authentication."
The open FIDO specifications 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 other existing and future technology options.
The open specifications are being designed to be extensible and to accommodate future innovation, as well as protect existing investments, the group said. The goal of the FIDO specifications is allow the interaction of technologies within a single infrastructure, enabling security options to be tailored to the distinct needs of each user and organization.
"The need for universal strong authentication has reached a tipping point," said Sebastien Taveau, FIDO technology working group chair and CTO of Validity Sensors. "And the support of the many FIDO Alliance members will ensure the rapid global adoption of an interoperable standard that protects the consumer's many online identities."