Today, IdentityX (an affiliate of Daon) announced a major system update for its Infinity Platform, allowing the Touch ID fingerprint sensor (currently featured on the iPhone 5S) to be used as a security factor.
This is an innovation made possible by Apple’s recent decision to open Touch ID to third party developers. Last week at WWDC, Apple made the announcement during the unveiling of iOS 8, greatly expanding the potential of the smartphone fingerprint sensor while also bolstering the speculation that the next iPhones and iPads expected to launch in the fall will be sporting Touch ID.
The Infinity Platform allows users to mix and match security factors to best suit their authentication needs. Flexible by design, IdentityX’s solution supports old factors (like passwords and hard tokens), modern factors (like voice and facial recognition) and factors that are not currently available (like the speculated palm vein or iris recognition as proposed by Fujitsu and Samsung, respectively).
With iPhone fingerprint support, Infinity Platform continues to achieve its namesake: getting closer to universal support, thanks in part to its continued support of Windows device fingerprint sensors.
IdentityX president Conor White has plenty to say about this newly announced support.
“This is great news for online businesses such as banks, healthcare providers and others that have high-risk transactions,” he says. “Mobile fingerprint authentication has now decisively moved from an emerging technology of tomorrow to one that is available to everyone today.
“As a closed system, Touch ID security provided limited functionality for iPhone 5s users. But as an open system — when incorporated into the multi-factor Infinity Platform — Touch ID works in tandem with dozens of other biometric and non-biometric security factors to deliver a flexible, universal consumer solution.
“Because no single security technology is perfect or ubiquitous, the Infinity Platform provides organizations the flexibility to centrally manage the wide (and growing) variety of authentication technologies that smart devices support — leading to greater security while providing optimal choice and convenience.”
The Infinity Platform is an excellent example of how choice fits in to multi-factor authentication. June is Multi-Modal Month here and at our sister-site findBIOMETRICS. Be sure to catch up on the most recent feature article that focuses on this disruptive topic.
Follow Us