MIDAS Alliance formed to resolve security issues and promote authentication innovation

Various companies in the security industry have collaborated to establish the MIDAS (Mobile Identity Authentication Standard) Alliance, in an effort to resolve potential issues caused by the European Central Bank’s (ECB) SecuRe Pay guidelines.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is pushing for greater security standards in the form of the SecuRe Pay guidelines, which will go into effect in August.

Most current mobile wallets will not meet the security standards for online and in-store payments across Europe.

The alliance’s main objective is to promote information security and authentication innovation through industry-wide collaboration.

FICO, Experian and Facebanx are the first organizations to join the MIDAS Alliance while other major companies are expected to follow suit.

“I believe this kind of information sharing is critical,” said Brian Kinch, a senior director of FICO and founding MIDAS member. “To prevent security breaches, we need to bridge the gap between what the regulators are seeking and what the financial services industry is doing.”

“I was delighted to be invited as one of the founders of MIDAS and explain the complex issues around biometrics, particularly as it is a fundamental requirement of SecuRe Pay,” said Matthew Silverstone, the CEO of Facebanx, a global leader in biometrics. “In the end the idea that the customer could choose from any one of four different biometrics – face, voice, eye and fingerprint -seemed the easiest solution from both a customer’s and a security perspective.”

The MIDAS Alliance will hold its first public meeting at FICO’s London office in Hays Lane on July 10 at 10.00 am. Personal membership for MIDAS Alliance is free.

Article Topics

association  |  authentication  |  biometrics  |  mobile identity credentialing  |  security