Andrew Shikiar, executive director and chief marketing officer
Identity professionals (the Identerati, if you will) look forward to Ping Identity’s Identiverse every year and it’s easy to see why. Between the packed agenda with content for all levels and the busy show floor, it’s a great opportunity to learn something new and meet the professionals that are in the trenches of identity within their own organizations.
This year, FIDO came to the fore. Jack Madden of tech publication BrianMadden.com summed it up well in his Identiverse recap:
“Without a doubt, the biggest buzz in identity today is FIDO2 and WebAuthn, the phishing-resistant authentication standards. They’ve made a lot of progress in the last year with many more certified implementations, and I don’t think a single conference session failed to mention how big of a deal they are.”
Between numerous keynote mentions, a masterclass from Google, and deployment sessions from companies like Netflix, Intuit and T-Mobile, FIDO Authentication and our newest set of standards, FIDO2, were a recurring theme throughout the conference. At our booth, we had a lot of meaningful conversations with professionals either just starting with FIDO or far along in their implementations or somewhere in between. In all cases, the identity community is eager to be involved.
We were enthused not only by the great FIDO content at the show, but for the opportunity to take the keynote stage and share some news of our own. We announced two new standards and certification initiatives in identity verification and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Why? Over time, we’ve seen a growing gap between the high-assurance authentication that FIDO provides, and lower assurance methods used for identity verification and in IoT. Addressing these adjacent technology areas that leave security vulnerabilities on the web will ultimately help drive the efficacy and market adoption of FIDO Authentication. The Alliance has the right mix of companies and the right structure of collaboration to address these gaps, as opposed to siloed proprietary approaches.
We’ve formed two new working groups, the IoT Technical Working Group (IoT TWG) and the Identity Verification and Binding Working Group (IDWG), to drive these new initiatives. These groups are now actively meeting and open to participation. If your organization would like to contribute to these efforts, I encourage you to reach out to me about membership in the Alliance.
Lastly, if you missed Identiverse but still want to hear the latest on FIDO, check out my slides from the event (The State of FIDO) and watch for more educational materials, including case studies and webinars, coming soon. Thanks again to Identiverse for a great show, and see you next year!
