Nomidio biometrics certified for OpenID Connect as password vulnerability increases

Nomidio has announced its biometric technology is now certified for the OpenID Connect standard to allow users to access the vast majority of cloud service providers and websites through a single unified digital identity with passwordless multi-factor authentication.

OpenID Connect provides a simple identity layer based on the OAuth 2.0 protocol, and certification to it allows Nomidio customers to replace passwords and legacy two-factor authentication with simple and secure logins with Nomidio’s biometrics.

Replacing passwords is a good way for organizations to improve their security posture, as new survey results from Nomidio show that almost a quarter of millennials (24 percent) use a single password for all accounts.

“Businesses need biometric multi-factor authentication because it’s the only way to prevent employees from writing down and re-using passwords and sharing credentials,” states Nomidio Commercial Director Philip Black. “No matter how much effort a firm invests in employee access management, it’s worthless if those employees can share their passwords and one-time passcodes.”

“Imagine you’re out on the road without a mobile signal or battery, with today’s device-centric approach to multi-factor you’re locked out,” Black adds.

Nomidio added Aculab’s voice biometrics to its multi-factor cloud authentication service in July.

The survey from Nomidio perhaps surprisingly shows that only 2 percent of baby boomers use the same passwords for all accounts, and younger generations are more frequently displaying behaviors in addition to password reuse that make them more susceptible to identity fraud.

Among people in ‘Gen-Z’ and millennials, so aged 16 to 38, 14 percent claim they have never changed their passwords, and 80 percent use a common substitution such as switching in zeros for ‘O’s. Among baby boomers, by contrast 62 percent change passwords at least twice per year.

“Young people are trading security for convenience, but that could come back to bite if their identity is compromised,” comments Ben Todd, Nomidio head of worldwide sales. “The survey clearly shows we need modern and secure ways of logging-in. Easy to use biometric systems like Nomidio mean people can log-in wherever they like, using only their face or voice, which are more secure and impossible to misplace. It’s secure and convenient.”

Credential sharing is also rampant among young people, the company says, with 62 percent of people between 16 and 38 years old sharing credentials with family and friends, and exchanging them in emails or messages, which further increases the attack surface. One in five millennials also leave passwords accessible in contacts or notes pages of internet-connected devices.  Less than 20 percent of respondents overall had used a service to check if their credentials have been breached.

Nomidio does not mention in the press release where the survey was conducted, or when.

Online account use to increase, log-in impatience remains

The number of accounts and frequency of use by consumers is set to continue increasing, as well, according to a ForgeRock survey.

A new report, ‘The New Normal – Living Life Online’ shows that 45 percent of consumers expect they will use online services even more after the pandemic.

The report also shows that 35 percent are prepared to cancel an account over a difficult log-in process, and 32 percent would consider switching to a new service. Further, 31 percent of consumers 65 and older intend to shop only online, even after stay-at-home restrictions end.

ForgeRock surveyed 5,000 consumers from the U.S., UK, Germany, Australia and Singapore.

Article Topics

access management  |  biometrics  |  certification  |  credentials  |  digital identity  |  multifactor authentication  |  Nomidio