The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent to Privakey, Inc. for innovations in password free authentication. Technologies that simplify authentication and reduce friction are sweeping financial services and other consumer markets today.
Patent number 9,813,400 is for digital identity technology used to establish a universal, password-free authentication system, eliminating the need for the site-specific passwords.
“The patent covers much of the foundational technology needed for large scale, password-free, digital identity services,” said Charles Durkin, CEO and Co-founder of Privakey. “Our technology enables a password-free future, where consumers will no longer suffer the hassles and insecurities of using passwords for their multitude of connected services.”
Professional identity service providers (IDPs) are expected to replace the thousands of unique login schemes that currently serve as the front doors to websites, mobile apps and online services today. IDPs that use Privakey will be able to offer improvements to security, privacy, and most importantly, the user experience (UX).
“Today’s marketplace is filled with a confusing mix of attempts to improve consumer authentication,” said Brian Ross, Vice President of Product at Privakey. “Unfortunately, these attempts often hinder the customer experience by placing more hassle and burden on the user. Privakey’s technology improves the customer experience while eliminating the vulnerabilities inherent with shared secrets. Just imagine if you never needed to remember another password in your daily life? Privakey makes that possible.”
Demand for passwordless authentication is growing rapidly as every day brings news of another security breach. Financial services, healthcare, ecommerce, and government leaders are all evaluating alternatives to authentication with passwords. Privakey’s technology can be leveraged by these organizations to launch large scale services that eliminate passwords, enable multifactor authentication and improve the user experience.
About Privakey
The Privakey team recognized that consistency is the key to achieving the elusive balance between security and convenience in online transactions. While it is virtually impossible to achieve convenience without consistency, site specific passwords and interrogating security questions remain at the core of the vulnerabilities and consumer frustration that plague the web today.
Privakey’s technology can be used by identity providers to establish vast networks of relying party service providers that accept a common user-centric authentication method. Consumers that subscribe to these IDP services will benefit from improved security, privacy, and user experiences. Privakey’s technology allows IDPs to offer privacy-enhancing self-sovereign identity services. Users benefit from greater visibility into, and control over, the personal data they share with various online service providers.
The elimination of passwords and other shared secrets will shrink attack surfaces and pave the way for what users really want: one simple and consistent way to access all of their favorite online services, without passwords.
