Apple, Google and Microsoft are committed to extended support for the FIDO standard

May 5, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Apple, Google and Microsoft are committed to extended support for the FIDO standard to speed up the availability of password-free logins
Faster, easier, and more secure access will be available to consumers across major devices and platforms.
Mountain View, California In a joint effort to make the web more secure and usable for all, Apple, Google and Microsoft today announced plans to expand support for a common password-free login standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. The new capability will allow websites and applications to offer consistent, secure and easy-to-use password-free login to consumers across all devices and platforms.
Password-only authentication is one of the biggest security issues on the web, and managing so many passwords is cumbersome for consumers, which often leads consumers to reuse them across all services. This practice can lead to customary account breaches, data breaches, and even stolen identities. While password managers and legacy forms of two-factor authentication offer incremental improvements, there has been industry-wide collaboration to create a sign-in technology that is more convenient and more secure.
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Standard-based expanded capabilities will give websites and applications the ability to offer an end-to-end password-free option. Users have signed up through the same action they take several times each day to unlock their devices, such as a simple verification of their fingerprint or face, or a device PIN. This new approach protects against phishing and access will be radically more secure when compared to passwords and legacy multi-factor technologies such as passcodes once sent via SMS.
An extension of standard support without a password
Hundreds of technology companies and service providers from around the world have worked together in the FIDO and W3C Alliance to create password-free login standards that are already supported on billions of devices and across all modern web browsers. Apple, Google and Microsoft have been leading the development of this expanded range of capabilities and are now building support on their respective platforms.
These companies ’platforms already support FIDO Alliance standards for enabling password-free access across billions of industry-leading devices, but previous implementations require users to access every website or app. with each device before you can use the password-free functionality. Today’s announcement extends these implementations of the platform to give users two new capabilities for a more seamless and secure password-free login:
- It allows users to automatically access their FIDO sign-in credentials (referred to by some as “passkey”) on many of their devices, even new ones, without having to recover any accounts.
- It allows users to use FIDO authentication on their mobile device to access an app or website on a nearby device, regardless of the OS or browser platform they are running.
In addition to facilitating a better user experience, broad support for this standard-based approach will allow service providers to offer FIDO credentials without the need for a password as an alternative method of login or account recovery.
These new capabilities are expected to be available on Apple, Google and Microsoft platforms over the next year.
“‘Simpler and stronger authentication’ is not only the tagline of the FIDO Alliance – it has also been a guiding principle for our specifications and lines of implementation. Ubiquity and usability are critical to seeing multifactor authentication adopted and we applaud Apple, Google and Microsoft for helping to make this goal a reality by supporting this user-friendly innovation in their platforms and products, ”said Andrew Shikiar. , executive director and CMO of the FIDO Alliance. “This new capability is set to usher in a new wave of low-friction FIDO implementations alongside continued and growing use of security keys – giving service providers a full range of options to implement modern, robust authentication. to phishing “.
“The standards developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium and being guided in practice by these innovative companies are the kind of forward thinking that ultimately keeps the American people safer online. We applaud the commitment of our private sector partners to open standards that add flexibility for service providers and a better user experience for customers, ”said Jen Easterly, Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency. “At CISA, we are working to raise the cybersecurity base for all Americans. Today is an important step in the security journey to encourage integrated security best practices and help us pass passwords. Cyber is a team sports, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration. ”
“As we design our products to be intuitive and capable, we also design them to be private and secure,” said Kurt Knight, Apple’s Senior Director of the Platform Products Marketplace. “Working with industry to establish new, more secure login methods that offer better protection and eliminate password vulnerabilities is central to our commitment to building products that offer maximum security and a transparent user experience – all with the aim of keeping users safe. “Personal information.”
“This step is a testament to the collaborative work being done across the industry to increase protection and eliminate obsolete password-based authentication,” said Mark Risher, Senior Director of Product Management, Google. “For Google, this represents almost a decade of work we’ve done with FIDO as part of our ongoing innovation toward a password-free future. We look forward to making FIDO-based technology available on Chrome, ChromeOS, Android and other platforms.” and we encourage app and website developers to adopt, so that people around the world can safely stay away from the risk and hassle of passwords. ”
“The complete transition to a password-free world will begin with consumers making it a natural part of their lives. Every viable solution must be more secure, easier and faster than the passwords and legacy multifactor authentication methods used. today, ”says Alex Simons, Corporate Vice President, Identity Program Management at Microsoft. “Working together as a community across platforms, we can finally achieve this vision and make significant progress toward eliminating passwords. We see a bright future for FIDO-based credentials in consumer and business scenarios and will continue to build support for Microsoft applications and services.
About the FIDO Alliance
The FIDO Alliance (Fast IDentity Online), www.fidoalliance.org, was formed in July 2012 to address the lack of interoperability between strong authentication technologies, and to remedy the problems that users face with creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords. The FIDO Alliance changes the nature of authentication with norms for simpler and stronger authentication that defines a set of open, scalable and interoperable mechanisms that reduce password trust. FIDO authentication is stronger, more private, and easier to use when authenticating to online services.
About Apple
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Five Apple software platforms – iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS – provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and enable people with innovative services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. More than 100,000 Apple employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and leaving the world better than we ever found them.
About Google
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome, and YouTube, Google plays a significant role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the largest companies. world famous. world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformations for the era of a smart cloud is a smart tip. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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