Authentify adds biometrics, digital certs to everyday logins
18 July, 2013
category: Corporate, Digital ID, Financial
Authentify is no stranger to the identification space, providing out-of-band authentication service to banks for more than a decade.
The company’s xFA app steps up the authentication service and uses the mobile device, digital certificates and voice biometrics for multi-factor authentication, says John Zurawski, vice president of marketing at Authentify.
A user downloads the xFA app, registers with Authentify who then stores the user’s phone number, email and voice biometric, Zurawski explains. When the user visits a site that is xFA enabled he then has to register that app with the site.
After entering some biographical data and its approval a cryptogram – similar to a QR code — will appear on the computer monitor. The user scans the code with their mobile, verifies identity with voice biometric by speaking into the mobile and the digital certificate is loaded on to the mobile for use with future transaction.
When returning to the site, the user clicks on the login button that automatically generates the cryptogram. The end user scans the code and then — depending on the authenticators required by the enterprise — is prompted to speak their passphrase for biometric authentication. If validated the user is then granted access.
The xFA app can store login multiple credentials for different sites depending on which enterprise is using the Authentify service, Zurawski says. “So a retailer, bank and health insurance providers can sign up for the Authentify and the end user has separate sets of certificated and key pairs for each one,” he adds.