“Authentify has been deploying speech recognition applications since 2001, with voice biometrics following in 2004. Supporting the Samsung Galaxy S5 marks the first time that fingerprint biometrics have been supported by the company’s offerings.”
Simultaneous with the FIDO Alliance Plenary Meeting, Authentify, Inc announced that it will now support fingerprint biometrics, throwing its support behind the Samsung Galaxy S5. As a provider of phone-based, out-of-band authentication and a sponsor level supporter of the FIDO Alliance, Authentify will be supporting Samsung’s newest flagship phone with the release of Authentify xFA platform version 3.5.
“Mobility has added a level of difficulty with regard to knowing your user or customer,” said Andy Rolfe, Authentify’s CTO while attending the FIOD meeting. “An end-user and a device can be almost anywhere. Ensuring the device is still in the hands of the same user is critical, and biometrics are the most reliable way to do so. We are able to handle a wide range of use cases and end-users employing multiple biometrics. The FIDO model has done a great deal to spur thinking around the use of multiple biometrics for some users.”
He went on to speak about the recent Galaxy fingerprint sensor spoof, and why that is no reason to give up optimism: “Successfully hacking a fingerprint reader with a gelatin model requires access to both the phone and the end-user. Most crimes committed online are remote, and the cybercriminals don’t have access to the end-user. It’s a very labor intensive hack. Plus, both Apple and Samsung are working on improved ‘liveness’ detection to thwart spoofing via gelatin models.”
Alan Dundas, vice president of product for Authentify and former security architect at Symantec summarized the new platform: “The x in xFA is representative of the x number of authentication factors you can apply by rule or policy as a risk profile might dictate. The underlying authentication in xFA employs public key infrastructure (PKI) digital certificates, on top of which voice print, fingerprint, PIN and pattern may be layered. Use one ‘authentifier,’ or use them all, as your use case dictates.”
Authentify has been deploying speech recognition applications since 2001, with voice biometrics following in 2004. Supporting the Samsung Galaxy S5 marks the first time that fingerprint biometrics have been supported by the company’s offerings.
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