SK Telecom partners with Octatco on biometric security key with quantum number generation

South Korea Telecom (SKT) has launched a keycard featuring fingerprint biometrics and quantum computing technology to provide secure logical access control for a range of sectors including financial services, defense, online administration and smart offices, reports Aju Business Daily.

The new EzQuant security key uses quantum random number generation, and was developed by SKT along with its Geneva, Switzerland-based subsidiary ID Quantique, and South Korean biometric authentication startup Octatco. A small quantum random number generator chip generates encoded numbers, which are delivered by a quantum key distributor.

The result is a biometric security key in a card form-factor based on FIDO protocols for passwordless authentication. Images included in the report depict a USB connection to a card reader, which the card communicates with through NFC connectivity, according to the report.

The partners plan to bring the EzQuant to market in the United States and Singapore this year.

SKT says EzQuant has been through interoperability testing by the FIDO Alliance, and that it can be linked to a personal computer, in-house groupware, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. It can be used with all web authentication services with support for FIDO and Windows Hello.

Octatco’s EzFinger2 USB authenticator uses Precise Biometrics’ BioMatch Embedded algorithm, through a deal struck in 2019.

Article Topics

access management  |  authentication  |  biometric security key  |  biometrics  |  FIDO Alliance  |  fingerprint recognition  |  NFC  |  quantum computing  |  SK Telecom