The role of the Mobile Network Operator in Authentication Services

In previous posts, I have talked about the need to deliver agile authentication services that are convenient to use and address the needs for proving identity across a wide range of services from a variety of endpoints.

Legacy authentication solutions, especially passwords, are continually proving to be both inconvenient and insecure for both consumers and employees – although the lines between the two are being eroded.

Thankfully, a combination of factors including the development and deployment of open standards,  including OpenID Connect, SAML and FIDO, and the creation of innovative mobile-based  authentication technology, including biometrics, are moving us away from a reliance on legacy authentication solutions. Authentication solutions that allow people to authenticate once with the touch of a finger.

PayPal’s FIDO-enabled biometric authentication solution on Samsung devices and Apple’s Touch ID solution is paving the way for wide-scale adoption of convenient user-centric authentication and getting people used to new methods of proving their identity for digital services.

These services are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential for next generation mobile authentication services and I believe that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) can play an important role in the new authentication landscape as they logical owners of authentication services in an era where accessing the internet is increasingly being made from mobile devices.

MNOs have long standing relationships with millions of consumers around the world and are considered to be trusted organisations that know how to deliver secure consumer-focused services. 

By owning and managing one of the trusted building blocks of mobile communication, the SIM, MNOs have a part to play in the delivery of authentication services to billions of mobile phone subscribers around the world.

I have just completed a piece of work, commissioned by Nok Nok Labs, that details the important role of Mobile Network Operators in delivering the latest agile authentication solutions. You can download the white paper from the Goode Intelligence website here.

I am also taking part in an online webinar organised by Nok Nok Labs to discuss this research on 4^th November 2014 at 16:00 GMT. You can sign up to the webinar here.

Thanks for reading.