BIO-key biometric access control deal expands as large organizations secure remote workers

Interest in biometrics for logical access control continues to rise among organizations, as evidenced by BIO-key receiving an additional follow-on orders to what is fast becoming a major biometric logical access control contract, just as Gartner publishes a ‘biometrics 101’ primer for IAM leaders. Intercede has also signed a large contract for multi-factor authentication, which may include face biometrics from Aware.

Gartner points out the potential for biometrics to balance trust and accountability against cost and user experience in a way legacy authentication methods cannot. The market analyst describes what the technology is, its associated risks and possible use cases, predicting phone-as-a-token authentication becoming a dominant workforce use case for passwordless mobile MFA.

“Biometric traits provide a uniquely human basis for user authentication, without people having to remember random character strings or carry specific devices,” says Ant Allan, VP Analyst, Gartner. “Biometric authentication offers better UX, along with increased accountability as biometric traits cannot easily be shared.”

BIO-key defense contract expands again

BIO-key has fulfilled a pair of substantial follow-on orders for biometric software from a leading international defense ministry, in an expansion that has increased BIO-key’s revenue from the project from $257,000 to nearly $1.4 million.

The ministry deployed BIO-key’s core biometric software engine for strong authentication to Microsoft Windows Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) after being referred to the company by Microsoft’s Windows Core Security and Identity Management Team, according to the company announcement. This allows agency staff to use biometric single sign-on access control to secure shared files, as well as Microsoft applications.

Multiple follow-on orders have been placed after a successful initial deployment, including two in the past 90 days worth nearly $500,000, as access is secured for thousands of additional users at thousands of additional workstations. The deal was initially reported in 2018.

“We take particular pride in follow-on orders from our customers because it means we are helping them with their mission as it evolves,” states BIO-key Senior Vice President of Strategy and Compliance and Chief Legal Officer Jim Sullivan,. “This particular customer is globally recognized for its cutting-edge cyber-security expertise. We were delighted that such a capable and prestigious technology team determined that BIO-key met their security and scalability requirements and have now made several follow-on investments to grow their BIO-key user base. The true test of a product is whether it works for customers after the first deployment so they become repeat customers.”

Intercede supplies MFA for Fortune 500 customer through new partnership

Intercede and WidePoint Corporation have partnered to provide multi-factor identity management for secure remote connectivity to a Global Fortune 500 corporation.

Intercede partnered with Aware to bring face biometrics to MyID just weeks ago, with the goal of signing up large enterprises.

Under the partnership, MyID credential management becomes a core part of WidePoint’s managed services. The new contract calls for WidePoint to provide professional services, hardware, and Personal Identity Verification (PIV-I) credentials, with the latter being issued to some employees of the client for logical access to information and resources belonging to a large federal agency, the companies say.

“MyID continues to offer enterprises and federal governments the technology they need to issue and manage credentials simply, securely, and at scale,” says Intercede CEO Klaas van der Leest. “WidePoint’s managed services offering is a natural fit for MyID as it provides the manageability and compliance to federal standards that many organizations in the United States must meet. The fast turnaround of this deployment, from initial discussions to operation in under 30 days, underlines the simplicity of WidePoint’s managed services offering, which is something I expect will bring confidence to prospective customers who have concerns about entering into long and complex PKI deployments. We look forward to many new customer wins together.”

“Over the last year we experienced a new era requiring rapid remote workforce adoption that catapulted Zero Trust to the top of the IT modernization list,” adds Caroline Godfrey, CSO of WidePoint Cybersecurity Solutions Corporation. “No longer can you rely on physical barriers to protect access to your data. Digital identities are the new norm. Getting back to the basics with strong identity proofing is the root for establishing trust, and that’s what our credentials enable.”

Article Topics

access management  |  BIO-key  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  digital identity  |  Gartner  |  identity management  |  Intercede  |  multifactor authentication