Passwordless authentication company Nok Nok Labs has announced the release of the new “Nok Nok IoT SDK”, the industry’s first multi-factor authentication solution that supports both standalone IoT devices and those connected to cloud services that utilize the Nok Nok S3 Authentication Suite.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that by 2025 there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices generating 79.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data — on everything from employee clock in/out times, to heart rates, to car locations, to transactions made through smart home speakers — that will require strong security protocols.
As the use and deployment of connected IoT devices continues to grow, so do potential hacking threats, while the use of outdated username/password authentication methods becomes less secure.
The Nok Nok IoT SDK aims to remedy this by provide organizations with a flexible and secure user-to-user device authentication solution across mobile, desktop, web and smartwatch applications, and that can run on existing microcontroller units (MCUs) and meet global regulatory requirements and security industry standards.
The SDK also supports both standalone and cloud-connected devices, while supporting multiple biometric modalities as well.
“As organizations work toward adopting IoT-based solutions to combat the growing wave of breaches in the space, the sheer number of devices that have been introduced to the market has prevented them from keeping up,” said Thad Peterson, a Senior Analyst at Aite Group. “Building a standard inside the device — like the Nok Nok IoT SDK — creates potential for industries like healthcare and manufacturing to secure increasingly remote work environments,” he added.
As new IoT devices are constantly being introduced, Nok Nok’s authentication infrastructure will lower the cost of integrating new use cases. Additionally, the Nok Nok S3 Authentication Suite in combination with the SDK can allow organizations to address all of their authentication needs through a single API, across a number of applications, all supported by FIDO and other global standards.
“Today, many devices contain default passwords that are identical across product lines, and for authenticating users to devices — this is neither secure nor convenient. And, we are just now witnessing the first regulations banning such shared default passwords and promoting the use of individual default passwords or multi-factor authentication,” said Dr. Rolf Lindemann, Nok Nok’s Vice President, Products.
“As an inventor of FIDO specifications, Nok Nok addresses the need for standards-based authentication solutions, and we can bring this expertise to a new market and avoid repeating the weak username and password authentication practices of the past,” he added.
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