In an Interop keynote presentation yesterday, PayPal chief information security officer Michael Barrett discussed the future of account security and suggested the PINs and passwords may be a thing of the past. Barrett is the current president of the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance.
The FIDO Alliance protocol allows users a choice of authentication method while shifting control to providers who can make authentication user-transparent and limit the risk of fraud. Essentially, FIDO combines hardware, software and Internet services. A FIDO user will use a FIDO Authenticator or token that they’ve chosen or that’s incorporated in their device; it could be a built-in fingerprint scanner, a USB memory drive with a password, a voice reader or something else.
The increasing number of online accounts in use in today’s online world leads to reuse of passwords. Phishing scams prevalent on the net have also led to high-profile incidents involving compromised accounts. FIDO is attempting to take advantage of the increasing availability of electronic devices to allow for personal and direct authentication tools.
Barrett, while noting that FIDO-enabled devices will begin appearing in the market this year, hinted that Apple and other smartphone manufacturers will lead the charge:
“It’s widely rumored that a large technology provider in Cupertino, Calif., will come out with a phone later this year that has a fingerprint reader on it,” he said. “There is going to be a fingerprint enabled phone on the market later this year. Not just one, multiple.”
Apple has been long rumored to be working to adopt fingerprint sensor technology in its devices, ever since its acquisition of fingerprint security firm AuthenTec last year.
