Apple joins the FIDO alliance and its open standard for biometric authentication

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Apple joined the FIDO alliance (Fast IDentity Online), a consortium of companies aiming to strengthen digital authentication through the standardization of tools and technologies, Tuesday February 11, 2020. If the apple brand has not, faithful to his habit, not commented on this decision, his logo now appears on the group's website – alongside those of the 260 other members, including the giants Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung.

Founded in 2013, the FIDO alliance succeeded in having its WebAuthn standard adopted by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in March 2019. The objective is to put an end to the traditional password which should ultimately be replaced by authentication solutions deemed more secure, such as biometrics. The vote on the second version of the European Payment Services Directive (DSP2) contributes to the development of strong authentication, which, postponed, will come into force in Europe on January 1, 2021.

Fight password BIAS

Passwords are regularly pointed out by cybersecurity experts accused of being a loophole. Hackers can exploit programs to try all possible combinations in no time. Users also tend to choose simplistic codes. 123456 is thus present in the top 5 most used passwords.

The stake is all the greater in a context where smart health connected objects are multiplying, as well as computer attacks against them, and they still use passwords by default. The FBI has released its advice so their owners can protect themselves from a data breach.

Double authentication, which consists in verifying the identity of the user by two different means such as a code and a fingerprint for example, is widely supported by the FIDO alliance, which judges that it "streamlines the experience while enhancing security". By coming to swell its ranks, manufacturers are initiating a real change. One of the prerequisites for the success of this transition is the adoption of common standards in this area.

Apple has already implemented some of the consortium's recommendations. The apple brand has supported the WebAuthn standard in its Safari browser and integrated the FIDO2 protocol in its iOS operating system, which allows, among other things, the use of Yubikey type authentication keys.

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