BIO-key Introduces ID Director for SAML

BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI) on Monday announced the availability of ID Director for Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) that enables secure and efficient biometric single sign-on to hundreds of applications.

As quoted in the press release:

ID Director for SAML enables enterprise customers to incorporate the unmatched simplicity, security, and operational elegance of BIO-key’s biometric technology as a Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) solution for single sign-on to hundreds of SAML-enabled cloud services and leading Identity and Access Management (IAM) platforms. Using ID Director for SAML, password-less, biometric single sign-on authentication can be configured in minutes with point-and-click ease – no coding required.

ID Director for SAML’s use of BIO-key’s patented WEB-key biometric platform enables an effortless-yet-secure user experience, raising security to the highest tier by including “who you are” as a central authentication factor. ID Director for SAML greatly expands the reach and value of BIO-key’s award-winning biometric platform into the IT landscape.

SAML has become a ubiquitous standard, enabling identity providers’ authentication services to be shared across multiple service providers (known in SAML as “SPs”) – relying applications and IAM platforms – using XML (Extensible Markup Language) standard protocols. An explosion of cloud-hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, such as Salesforce, SAP, GoToMeeting, Google’s G Suite, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), is driving demand for stronger security and an improved, more efficient user experience at a reasonable cost. Customers of Okta, Oracle Identity Cloud Service, CA SSO (single sign-on) and IBM Security Access Manager access management platforms have also requested enterprise biometric solutions for their multi-factor authentication processes. In expanding the support of it ID Director platform to SAML, BIO-key is now able to provide powerful yet easy-to-use biometric multi-factor authentication for a wide range of SaaS cloud applications and IAM platforms.

Existing SAML 2.0 compliant service providers will benefit from a better user authentication experience and will be invited to refer their customers to use BIO-key ID Director for SAML to enable their applications with NIST-tested biometric multi-factor authentication.

“Mainstream multi-factor authentication identity providers support only traditional factors such as phone push, USB tokens and smart cards. Where a biometric is offered, it is in the limited context of TouchID for approving a phone push authentication,” stated Jim Sullivan, BIO-key Senior V.P. of Strategy and Compliance. “While technically meeting goals of stronger authentication, these approaches are cumbersome for end-users and also create challenges for enterprises with roving workforces, such as call centers, healthcare, retail and manufacturing. Our customers seek simplified, cost-effective central authentication services that accommodate both roving and single-device users without having to issue and manage tokens or pay personal data plan costs for users to use a personal device for work. The fact that SAML is ubiquitous makes getting more value from a BIO-key investment much more simple.”

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