Andrew Shikiar, executive director and CMO
There is more big news out of Japan today: NTT DOCOMO, Japan’s largest mobile network operator with over 78 million subscriptions, has announced a new authentication option: d ACCOUNT® Passwordless Authentication. Starting in February 2020, d ACCOUNT users will have the option to disable password logins and set their accounts to login via FIDO biometric authentication only. The goal of d ACCOUNT Passwordless Authentication is to provide an even stronger way to prevent unauthorized logins with FIDO so that even if a user’s password is stolen, it can no longer be used to access the account. This new option will be available on DOCOMO-supported mobile handsets with biometric authentication capabilities — currently more than 90 models are available.
DOCOMO has long supported FIDO standards, offering FIDO Authentication to its users since 2015 and contributing to the FIDO Alliance and its specifications at the board level. Now, it is great to see DOCOMO as amongst the first to offer true passwordless authentication backed by FIDO standards, and on its journey to becoming completely passwordless.
We’re often asked what it’s going to take to achieve our mission to end the world’s reliance on passwords. The answer is that it is a journey, not one that will happen overnight, but one that will happen one application at a time. With native support for FIDO now built into Android, Windows, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, and FIDO Universal Servers available to support all FIDO specifications, the implementation work is largely done. Now, the stage is set for more service providers and enterprises to take DOCOMO’S example and start on their passwordless journeys.
If you’d like to learn more about DOCOMO’s journey with FIDO, read our new case study here.
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