FIDO platform offers biometric authentication for IoT

Article By : Fujitsu

Fujitsu's Online Biometric Authentication Service adheres to FIDO Alliance standards and takes an on-device approach to biometric data.

Fujitsu has developed a Fast Identity Online (FIDO)-compliant platform that uses a smartphone's biometric authentication and near-field wireless functions to allow IoT devices secure and seamless access to cloud services.

The system, called Online Biometric Authentication Service, adheres to FIDO Alliance standards and takes an on-device approach to biometric data. With this system, a user who needs to access an IoT device or service will only have to perform a biometric scan on her smartphone, according to Fujitsu. A confirmation of authentication then passes through a secure connection to a cloud-based server, while NFC technology is used to confirm that the user is in proximity to the IoT device or service the user is trying to access.

__Figure 1:__ *The Online Biometric Authentication Service system (Source: Fujitsu)*

Fujitsu said customers can use the service to easily build secure online personal authentication systems that do not require passwords for a variety of day-to-day situations, such as online banking and shopping, ticket arrangements and car sharing. It also reduces the burden of getting online authentication services up and running. The platform also functions to use FIDO with facial recognition obtained through camera-equipped smartphones and other biometrics, which means the number of supported devices on the client side can be expanded.

Fujitsu plans to roll out the Online Biometric Authentication service in Japan starting early April 2017.