Daon, a global leader in mobile biometric authentication technology, launched a ‘FIDO Quick Start’ initiative to provide qualifying organizations with access to a hosted IdentityX® FIDO UAF (Universal Authentication Framework) Server at no cost in order to evaluate the suitability of biometric authentication for their needs. Relying Parties will be able to quickly deploy and evaluate FIDO standards-based authentication under the initiative. Daon is a board member of the FIDO(Fast IDentity Online) Alliance and its IdentityX Platform was one of the first products to earn a FIDO® Certified designation.

The objective of Daon’s FIDO Quick Start initiative is to accelerate adoption of FIDO authentication and will be available to qualifyingorganizations who want to test a FIDO standards-based solution with the goal of offering their customers a ‘passwordless’ experience.Organizations will be able to see and test a working implementation of a FIDO UAF Server, including configuration of applications, facets and authenticators, with Daon’s support on their journey to replace passwords with biometrics. FIDO Quick Start will enable customers to run through the registration process as well as authentications using biometrics such as fingerprint, face and voice with access to a working demo application, or they can choose to create their own with documentation provided by Daon.

“With the ongoing onslaught of data breaches and password leaks, online service providers are actively looking at ways to stop relying on passwords and move to strong authentication. With this offer, Daon is making it quick and affordable for these organizations to test and see how FIDO authentication improves both security and user experience,” said Brett McDowell, Executive Director at the FIDO Alliance. “We look forward to Daon’s continued leadership and strong commitment to moving FIDO forward as the global strong authentication standard.”

Conor White, Daon’s President, Americas and a FIDO board representative, said: “We believe that FIDO specifications and alternatives to passwords are a big part of the future of authentication and are excited to offer this program. To help advance the FIDO standardDaon open sourced key components of a FIDO standards-based solution – the Relying Party App and Relying Party Server Application –with encouraging demand. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for organizations to adopt FIDO standards.”