While it is commonly accepted that passwords and the consumers who set them are inherently insecure, organizations put a lot of trust behind two-factor authentication (2FA) solutions. Here are several ways fraudsters have been able to beat this additional layer of security. Read More

Over 150 Biometric and 2FA Products Certified to Meet FIDO’s Interoperability Standard
In early April, the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance announced that they have now certified over 150 two-factor authentication and biometric products for replacing static passwords, an increase of 50 percent just in the last quarter. These products meet the group’s specifications under their published Universal Authentication Framework, with several major mobile handset manufacturers and
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Early Warning Acquires Authentify and their Multi-Factor Authentication Technology
Early Warning, the cooperative owned by five of the largest U.S. banks that provides risk management services to financial institutions and payment companies, announced their plans to acquire mobile-based authentication provider Authentify on April 7th while terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Authentify, which provides multi-factor authentication services primarily centered on mobile devices, was a natural fit
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Are the FIDO Alliance Authentication Specifications the Beginning of the End for Passwords?
The FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance released their first documents for stronger authentication at the end of 2014 with version 1.0 of their Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) and Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) specifications. The group of more than 150 member organizations hopes to usher in the post-password era through biometrics, hardware and other forms of
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Visa becomes third major card association to join FIDO Alliance
Visa follows Discover and MasterCard’s lead becoming the third card association to join the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance’s board of directors. The FIDO Alliance is focused on developing standards and technical specifications to make online authentication more secure. The FIDO Alliance was formed in mid-2012 to address two primary issues with online authentication: the
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Heartbleed may have ripple effects on websites and authentication
All organizations need to be thinking about the future of user authentication and the heavy reliance on passwords which may be on the brink of change, and Heartbleed may have been the catalyst. By now we are all familiar with the Heartbleed bug and OpenSSL vulnerability, but the fallout from the breach of information Heartbleed caused is only just beginning. Just about any
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Ping Identity acquires Israeli mobile authentication start-up
US-based Ping Identity, provider of cloud identity management and single-sign on solutions, announced the acquisition of Accells Technologies, a mobile identity and multi-factor authentication provider based out of Israel that was started in 2009. Accells Technologies is considered a pioneer in the mobile authentication space recently winning the Stevie Award for Best New Software Service
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Twitter Implements Non-SMS based Two-Factor Authentication
Twitter joins Google and Facebook as another internet titan that offers more security conscious consumers the ability to use two-factor authentication. They have offered this via SMS text messages before, but have recently implemented a new method that doesn’t require the consumer to receive a text message. Depending on the potential success or shortcomings of
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