Google Teams Up With FIDO For Password Replacement

Google and FIDO, the Fast IDentity Online Alliance, have joined forces in an effort to replace passwords completely with a new authentication system altogether. FIDO is only looking to replace passwords used when trying to log in into online sites and services, saying that the current password system isn't secure enough to protect users. Its message has been reinforced many times over in the past week alone thanks to the Syrian Electronic Army.

Google is the most recent member to join FIDO, which was founded by Lenovo, PayPal, Nok Nok Labs, and Validity. Other notable additions to the group include chipmaker NXP as well as CrucialTec, the world's largest manufacturer of Optical Track Pad mobile input devices. Google is a strong addition to the group. Sam Srinivas, the Product Management Director of Information Security at Google, stated that the company is looking forward to "continuing our current development work on strong, universal second-factor tokens" for FIDO.

However, two-factor authentication tokens aren't the only products FIDO is considering developing to replace passwords. The alliance is thinking about developing fingerprint scanners, voice recognition, facial recognition, NFC systems, and other solutions in an effort to make logging into online services much more secure. Not only will FIDO make logging into websites safe, it will also expand to other features like verifying transactions and user agreements.

Many companies are realizing that passwords are becoming too easy to breach. Google already has a two-step verification in place to better secure its users' accounts, Microsoft recently rolled out its own two-factor authentication system, and Twitter is testing its new security system now. FIDO's solutions will help ensure that a users' personal information is better protected.

[via CNET]