Andrew Shikiar, Chief Marketing Officer, FIDO Alliance
Earlier this month, the FIDO Alliance was in Asia for a series of seminars sharing the latest updates on FIDO Authentication and adoption. In Beijing, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo, we had standing-room only sessions showcasing a year of great progress throughout the region as major organizations rallied around FIDO2 to reduce reliance on passwords with simpler, stronger authentication.
Each stop on the ‘tour’ provided insights on local adoption trends. In Beijing, we saw strong uptake with leading banks, particularly for their mobile apps. Taipei featured a very enthusiastic audience with great interest across the board from government, finance and mobile communications. Korea has long been an epicenter for FIDO innovation, and this seminar was no different. Presentations showcased how FIDO can be utilized for everything including mobile banking, blockchain, voice-based commerce and more.
In Japan, we held a press conference that featured significant updates from the local market including the announcement that Yahoo! Japan (which in September was among the first service providers to have a FIDO2 Certified server) has joined the FIDO Alliance Board of Directors. Yahoo! Japan also gave a presentation to seminar attendees on how FIDO Authentication will be deployed to its users. On the certification front, it was announced that leading service providers KDDI and LINE achieved FIDO2 certification, with LINE also becoming the second company to achieve Universal Server Certification. Notably, LINE also announced that it will be rolling out FIDO Authentication for LINE Login next Spring. In more deployment news from Tokyo, two companies announced new FIDO biometrics-based mobile applications — Aflac Japan (developed by Fujitsu Global) and the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi (developed by Hitachi Global).
Collectively, these presentations, discussions and announcements showcase the fact that millions of consumers across Asia are now experiencing the more secure, faster and convenient experiences that FIDO Authentication provides,while deploying organizations are enjoying the benefits of lower risk and increased customer satisfaction. This is in line with what we’re seeing globally. Organizations are paying close attention to the increasing browser and product support for FIDO2 and making their rollout plans. These seminars were an inspiring way to wrap up 2018, and point to 2019 as a year of further FIDO adoption and deployments around the world.
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