Matt interviews Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and CMO of the FIDO Alliance. The FIDO Alliance is a non-profit association focused on eliminating the world’s dependence on passwords by driving the adoption of open standards for simpler, stronger user authentication. Today Matt and Andrew discuss the future of authentication as we shift to passkeys. Learn why they’re an improvement from the past, and why authentication is a business imperative. 

Video quote:

“Authentication is not just a security imperative. In fact, it's more and more a business imperative, right? So when we talk about bottom line and top line, it really hits both areas because authentication should be a competitive advantage.”

Key Quotes:

“The fact of the matter is, passwords remain a threat to the integrity of the network economy itself. We need to move beyond those and that's what FIDO is doing in conjunction with all of our partners in the broader ecosystem.”

“When we look at FIDO authentication and we look at our very audacious goal of replacing passwords with passkeys, we need to consider those advantages that they have and make sure that we're delivering the same thing with FIDO and with passkeys.”

“Pass keys now are, I would say, the most elegant, seamless solution. The best way to actually get people in a truly passwordless form of authentication that's not dependent on any sort of knowledge based credentialing or any fishable methodology. So more and more, we're seeing a very rapid adoption of passkeys, because they're so integrated into the devices and operating systems that we use on a daily basis.” 

“I think two key metrics are: time to sign in and sign in success rate. Especially when compared to legacy 2FA. So, passwords plus something like SMS OTP and SMS OTP has its own flaws, but it's certainly better than a password alone. But when compared to that, we've seen companies find upwards of a 25 percent improvement of sign in success rate and over 75 percent time in reduction to sign in. Those are massive changes. Google reported four times improvement in sign in success rate versus passwords at half the sign in time.”

“Authentication is not just a security imperative. In fact, it's more and more a business imperative, right? So when we talk about bottom line and top line, it really hits both areas because authentication should be a competitive advantage.  Authentication is a massive competitive disadvantage. “

“I think consumers will associate a good authentication experience with a brand that's modern, that's cutting edge, that cares about them. These are all attributes that I think I would want to have someone think about me, not old fashioned, stodgy, stuck in the past, difficult to work with.”

Time stamps:

00:52 - What’s your identity?

03:50 - Why passwords suck

05:36 - The evolution of passwordless technology

07:14 - All about passkeys

17:47 - Marketing outcomes of passkeys

20:32 - Passkeys are a competitive advantage

28:52 - Future-thinking

35:09 - Quick hits

Links:

Learn more about FIDO Alliance

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