Hey Passwords, Your Days Are Numbered

In and around the world of Digital Identity, one of the popular flavors of the moment continues to be the focus on developing new methods of personal authentication. Users long ago tired of forgetting passwords while, at the same time, hackers have become increasingly savvy at cracking them. There may actually be a time in the not-so-distant future when passwords will be rendered obsolete by new ways of identifying users that may actually be unique to the user himself/herself.

Based on recent news alone, it’s clear companies are seeing authentication as a lucrative business opportunity.

In this month’s Tracker, we’ve got our fingerprint on the pulse of newsmakers, including BCC Research, which recently released a report forecasting biometrics will grow into a $41.5B industry by 2020. One trend anticipated to lead the way is fingerprint technology. Lending credence to the BCC Research forecast, just last month big player Windows released biometric features called Windows Hello in Windows 10. It’s just one of many news items we’re following in the Tracker.

The February edition of the Digital Identity TrackerTM, brings you the latest industry news in and around secure convenience through biometrics and other sustainable alternatives to passwords, along with the addition of 7 new player profiles – now totaling 108 companies – and updates to 2 profiles.

MOVING AWAY FROM PASSWORDS?

This month’s cover story features an interview MPD CEO Karen Webster conducted with Brett McDowell, FIDO’s executive director. McDowell discusses the movement toward a new type of credential, featuring asymmetric key cryptography, that may well set the password to pasture in the not-so-distant future. Here’s a sneak peek:

The online payments landscape is littered with abandoned shopping carts, passwords never remembered and frustrated consumers.

Nearly four years after its founding, the Fast IDentity Online Alliance (FIDO) has been making inroads into the payments landscape with a laser sharp focus on authentication that proves an online user’s identity.

To that end, the nonprofit has been coalescing members around developing a standard platform through which authentication can be done as a “case agnostic” activity, which means it can extend across any number of verticals and payments across disparate industries.

The push toward authentication standards has garnered the support of some heavyweights in the payments industry, among them Google, Microsoft and Apple, which have collectively made room for FIDO based solutions to be used across those companies’ platforms.

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About the Tracker

The PYMNTS.com Digital Identity TrackerTM is a forum for framing and addressing key issues and trends facing the entities charged with efficiently and securely identifying and granting permission to individuals to access, purchase, transact, or otherwise confirm their identity.