Avast joins FIDO Alliance, groups for decentralized and trusted digital ID

Avast’s plans for participation in the digital identity ecosystem are gradually becoming clearer, with the consumer cybersecurity provider announcing it has joined a quartet of important industry groups.

The Trust Over IP Foundation (ToIP), the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO Alliance have each welcomed Avast and its help in developing community-driven open standards for decentralized digital trust infrastructure.

Evernym and SecureKey, each acquired by Avast within the past year, were both founding organizations behind DIF, and members in W3C. Evernym was also a founding member of ToIP.

Avast will join ToIP and DIF as a Steering Member of each, and representatives of the company hold leadership positions in various working groups of the ToIP, DIF, and W3C. These working groups are focused on supporting digital identity ecosystems by developing cryptographic libraries, decentralized identifiers, secure protocols, and governance frameworks, according to a company blog post.

“The days of walled gardens and platform-centric identity services are over,” says Drummond Reed, director of Digital Trust Services at Avast. “The future is decentralized, where everyone will be able to control their data and share it where and with whom they choose, privately, securely, and on their terms. This vision forms the basis of our digital trust services at Avast. We are excited about being part of communities of like-minded individuals and businesses that are collectively laying the foundations for a trust-based digital environment that will rebuild faith in the internet.”

Reed joined Avast in the Evernym acquisition, and is among the many employees DIF Executive Director Rouven Heck refers to as long-standing contributors to the self-sovereign identity community.

Avast’s membership with the FIDO Alliance is as a sponsor.

The company’s SVP and GM of Identity, Charlie Walton, spoke with Biometric Update earlier this year about a vision for the future in which people bring their own digital identity to interactions.

Article Topics

Avast  |  Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF)  |  digital ID  |  FIDO Alliance  |  Trust over IP  |  W3C