Take a quick peek at your to-do list. Chances are, changing or strengthening your password(s) is not at the top of the list. And while it’s understandable that we all have other priorities, the downside of weak or stolen passwords is the potential for damaging and costly data breaches.
To combat the threat of these breaches, security professionals are laser-focused on moving away from traditional passwords as a standard security protocol. In fact, a recent IDG report says that a full 86% of IT security pros would completely eliminate passwords if they could.
Employed by top tech firms
It’s not surprising that many of the world’s leading tech companies—including Microsoft, Google and Apple—now support passwordless authentication via the emerging FIDO2 (Fast Identity Online) technology.
FIDO alliance has made it its mission to rid the world of passwords by providing a seamless, secure and interoperable passwordless authentication platform. FIDO2 works seamlessly across credential types, devices, platforms and browsers.
As FIDO2 gains acceptance, enterprise and government users are combining this technology with their existing logical access solutions utilizing proximity or contactless smart cards and readers. These types of intelligent Identity Access Management (IAM) solutions not only reduce the potential of a security breach, they also save users time and effort by eliminating manual password entry.
In the healthcare industry alone, studies show that clinicians save 45 minutes per shift per day by avoiding the constant need to enter passwords. This time can then be used in hands-on patient care.
For businesses or government offices, less time spent entering passwords also translates to higher performing employees and more efficient workflows. And fewer lost or forgotten passwords means significant savings in IT support.
According to Gartner, 40% of help desk calls are password related, and manual password rest can cost up to $70 per event.1
So how can growing enterprises or busy government offices leverage this combination of FIDO2 passwordless authentication and physical sign-on security?
Readers with FIDO2 Support
At rf IDEAS, a wide array of high-performance proximity and contactless card readers can be seamlessly integrated with IAM software that supports FIDO2. For example, the WAVE ID® Plus (RDR-80586AKU), WAVE ID® Nano (RDR-7526AKU) and WAVE ID® Nano OEM (OEM-7526AXU) readers are now optionally available with FIDO2 support.
Customers using these multi-technology rf IDEAS readers can take advantage of a growing number of NFC authenticators that use the FIDO2 standard for passwordless login. In addition, embedded OEM offerings can be configured to work with FIDO2.
Today, rf IDEAS offers simple integration and the ability to support nearly all proximity and contactless credentials worldwide. Compatibility with the Universal Software Developer Kit (SDK) and the industry-standard CCID protocol at the same time makes the readers plug-and-play with software solutions that integrate the SDK and support FIDO2.
What’s more, the WAVE ID readers are backward-compatible, allowing existing authentication systems to add FIDO2 without disruption.
With insecure traditional passwords on their way out and the FIDO2 passwordless technology earning the confidence of the big tech players, customers, software providers, integrators and OEMs can turn to rf IDEAS for expertise and support to launch secure, new products and prevent security breaches.
Learn more about rf IDEAS IAM solutions.
1 Market Guide for Password Management Tools, 2014 and Implement IAM Best Practices for Your Active Directory, 2020, reports by Gartner Research
