The FIDO Alliance recently announced a partnership with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and the launch of the FIDO India Working Group to spread awareness of market-ready strong authentication standards and solutions in India. It is vital to have a secure, open, scalable and interoperable set of mechanisms to reduce the reliance on passwords while also protecting user privacy. These are important concepts that are enabling secure authentication practices in finance and other key industries; both within and outside the enterprise.
“India is ahead of the curve on authentication in many respects – the Reserve Bank of India, for example, mandates that online transactions above a certain threshold use two-factor authentication,” said Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO Alliance. “The launch of the FIDO India Working Group and the partnership with DSCI extends the FIDO Alliance’s global reach and will enable us to educate the Indian market on how FIDO authentication can help service providers meet such mandates, while vastly improving security and usability of strong authentication over solutions like one-time passcodes and digital certificates.”
On the creation of the partnership, Rama Vedashree, CEO, DSCI said, “With the proliferation of digital and mobile banking, secure and foolproof authentication is a key to reassuring consumers and building trust. We look forward to working with FIDO and its members in spreading awareness of stronger authentication standards.”
The FIDO India Working Group, which will be led by co-chairs Ramesh Kesanupalli, co-founder of the FIDO Alliance and founder of Nok Nok Labs, and Ashok Chandak, senior director of global sales and marketing at NXP Semiconductors. At launch, 11 leading FIDO Alliance member companies active in the Indian market are participating in the FIDO India Working Group: Digit Secure, Feitian, FingerPrint Cards, Hypersecu, Intel Corporation, Nok Nok Labs, NXP Semiconductors, Persistent Systems, Redpine, Synaptics and Uniken, Inc.
FIDO authentication reduces organizations’ and users’ reliance on passwords with interoperable on-device authentication that is stronger and easier to use. FIDO initiates regional working groups to help its members to identify and drive awareness for how FIDO standards can address in-market requirements.