Nok Nok, UberEther partner on biometric authentication for US gov’t

FIDO veteran Nok Nok Labs is working with federal ID and access management contractor UberEther on phishing-resistant multifactor authentication products to sell to agencies and their suppliers.

The partnership is billed as a way to get agencies and their suppliers to be phishing-resistant with biometric tools that are easier to use.

Nok Nok’s S3 products will be integrated with UberEther’s IAM Advantage products, which are not fully certified under FedRAMP, or the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.

FedRAMP represents standardized methods for security assessment, authorization and monitoring of cloud products and services.

The pair say they will extend the FedRAMP certification of IAM Advantage, putting them in a good position to nudge federal agencies, customers and their suppliers to trade legacy IT infrastructure for cloud services.

The extension amounts to support for FIDO passkeys built into device hardware and applications and the incorporation Nok Nok phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication tactics. Nok Nok S3 already provides support for third-party biometric authenticators.

Nok Nok’s FIDO authentication software also meets the White House’s 2021 Cybersecurity Executive Order that defines how the government will adopt best-of-breed cybersecurity, says company CEO Phillip Dunkelberger.

IAM Advantage today meets FedRAMP “high” and Defense Department “impact level 5” certifications, enabling closely monitored companies to run their ID verification apps in the cloud more securely and effectively.

After the certification extension is complete, the companies reportedly will have one of the only private-tenant cloud identity solutions available in the FedRAMP-approved federal cloud services marketplace.

Together, says Dunkelberger, “they will deliver trusted IAM solutions to the largest government agencies with built-in next-level MFA that meets the highest levels of security.”

Nok Nok recently announced full support for passkeys in a bid to move closer to passwordless authentication.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  cloud services  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  multifactor authentication  |  Nok Nok Labs  |  passkeys  |  research and development  |  U.S. Government