AdNovum Joins FIDO Alliance in its Battle Against Outdated Username and Password Authentications

Identity theft is no small web to untangle, and could adversely impact one’s ability to live their lives normally for years to come. That is why many data experts recommend that people do not repeat usernames and passwords for access into important accounts or files, but realistically, that is not something most humans are want to do.

In fact, according to the Digital Identity Survey conducted by AdNovum, the number of people who have experienced identity theft has doubled between 2016 to 2018.

Usernames and passwords are difficult to generate and remember if they are to be reasonably secure, and on top of that, runs the extra risk of being misused or stolen.

On top of that, username and password authentications are just unwieldy, for both consumers and platform operators. Only 15% of the respondents in a survey reported to have less than 10 digital identities, while 22% of the users report they have over 80 digital identities.

Founded in 2012, the FIDO Alliance wants to create a standard for authentication to improve interoperability. They would also like to address the problems caused by the multitudes of usernames and passwords on websites and apps by advocating for fingerprints or facial recognition. 

The Swiss software company AdNovum is a new sponsoring member of the FIDO Alliance, and their first order of business is to remove the need for usernames and passwords.

Beyond just operating on the FIDO guidelines, AdNovum wants to establish FIDO as a standard for banking, insurance and government solutions in the DACH region and in Singapore and thus, making an active contribution to the FIDO Alliance.

The goal of AdNovum is to provide user-friendly mobile authentication that meets the security requirements of banking, insurance and government solutions.

AdNovum’s argument is that mobile devices are near universal: about 92% of all device owners surveyed by AdNovum apparently features some sort of biometric authentication support.  Therefore, gravitating towards biometric authentication should be the new approach to account security.

The NEVIS Security Suite by AdNovum has therefore been integrating mobile authentication based on the FIDO standard since autumn 2018.Reportedly, NEVIS protects over 80% of all e-banking transactions.

NEVIS has been used to protect the portals of banks, insurances and authorities for more than 20  years now, and is considered Switzerland’s market leader for identity and access management. Now, it seems like the company is strengthening its push against usernames and passwords.

Featured image via Glassdoor