App turns a mobile device into a personal authenticator

Passwords are at the root of online security problems because when typed into browsers, sent over open networks and centrally stored, they are easily compromised leaving the networks and accounts they “protect” vulnerable to criminals. But that can all change with a digital image that can save your online identity.

Authentify introduced an alternative to overworked passwords, an online security app that turns mobile devices into secure personal authenticators. Combining enterprise control with user convenience, the Authentify xFA Service replaces passwords with a mobile xFA app that scans an on-screen, short-lived cryptograph—a digital image that, when scanned, activates a PKI digital certificate for strong authentication—and turns a smartphone into an authenticator that delivers server-to-server class endpoint security with no effort from the end user or the enterprise.

xFA, which stands for “x” factors of authentication, also provides strong multi-factor authentication supporting voice biometrics and other forms of secure messages allowing enterprises or their users to choose the level of authentication the transaction warrants.

Authentify xFA can be used by any online service provider or enterprise that needs strong protection at time of logon but also needs a simple user experience. xFA provides greater protection to financial services, e-commerce, medical insurance firms or any enterprise/SMB private networks from password exploits or breaches without losing productivity or inconveniencing users.

“Password security is broken and the headlines prove it,” said Peter Tapling, Authentify president & CEO. “We developed xFA because the security is in a different class, anchored by digital certificates and biometric authentication. Until now, however, cost, user complexity and ease of deployment have been formidable barriers preventing the widespread use of these technologies. Authentify is changing that paradigm because xFA is even easier to use than passwords yet delivers the proven security of digital certificates and voice biometrics over a second channel. And since the users’ own mobile device becomes the authenticator, it’s easy to scale.”

Authentify’s xFA defeats a broad range of exploits designed to steal passwords or hijack online sessions such as man-in-the-middle, man-in-the-browser, viruses, Trojans and keyloggers, and does so with a more engaging user experience than other technologies that layer on top of one another.

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