According to Goode Intelligence, biometric authentication in Smart Mobile Devices – smart phones, phablets and tablets – is becoming a common feature. The consultancy issued an update to its report forecasting that by 2019 there will be 604 million users of wearable biometric technology globally.

The Sesames Awards were gives out at the start of the 2014 CARTES Secure Connexions conference in Paris. The only company to win more than one award was Syniverse in the Retail/Loyalty and Trusted Internet/Authentication categories.

The new Zwipe MasterCard enables consumers to dump PIN codes and passwords. Zwipe and MasterCard have teamed up for on a contactless payment card featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor.

Tangerine is enabling banking customer to use the fingerprint scanner on iPhones as an additional factor of authentication to access their accounts on the mobile devices and will introduce voice biometrics later this year.

The Fall 2014 Regarding ID magazine is available for viewing online. Read about identity and the Internet of Things, Bring Your Own Identity, vulnerability in two-factor authentication and doodling your way to secure access.

Nigeria wants to help its citizens get access to banking services with its electronic identification card. The contact smart card includes and EMV application and is secure with PKI and biometrics.

Confyrm is one of the latest winners of a pilot for the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, with a two year, $2.4 million award that will demonstrate ways to minimize loss when criminals create fake accounts or take over online accounts. An obstacle to federated identity is the concern that accounts used in identity solutions may not be legitimate, or in the control of their rightful owner. Andrew Nash, founder and CEO of Confyrm, fills Gina Jordan in on some of the details surrounding the pilot.