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 4th November 2014 at 16:00 GMT.
You can sign up to the webinar here.
Thanks for reading.
