One of the ways many of us like to start out the New Year is by making the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). While the experience can take more than a bit of planning because of the overwhelmingly amount of new things to investigate, you might wish to put on your resolution list a stop by the various booths of members of the The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, an industry consortium revolutionizing online authentication with the first standards-based specifications, to kick the tires.

This past week the less than one year old FIDO Alliance not only announced the FIDO Ready™ Certification program, but also revealed the Alliance members who will be showing off their innovations that incorporate FIDO authentication standards into their products.  

As FIDO Alliance president, Michael Barrett noted:  “In less than a year, FIDO Alliance specifications have enabled several of our members to produce some remarkable innovative authentication products. Participants at CES will benefit from hands-on experience of how open FIDO standards will work to enable truly novel strong authentication technologies. With FIDO specifications, users have a choice of devices and solutions that interoperate and make authentication easier to use, more secure and private."  

What to see at CES
For those who follow my passion (some say fixation) with authentication as a critical part of creating the trust necessary for all of us to have peace of mind when doing any type of transaction online, you are aware of my enthusiasm for FIDO since it was created.  I have always been a firm believer that all boats rise when the tide comes in, and that with Identity/Authentication being the new perimeter in a virtualized, mobilized, BYOD world, having a standardized means for authentication is absolutely critical.

So who will be at CES and what will you see? 

FIDO Alliance members participating with FIDO Ready™ products and services at CES include AGNITiO, FingerQ, Nok Nok Labs, Synaptics, and Yubico. They will be demonstrating FIDO Ready™ solutions that are based on working draft FIDO specifications, available to member organizations. As FIDO explains: “These solutions have undergone an interoperability testing process against the draft specification, hosted by an independent testing organization and leveraging the Nok Nok Labs Multifactor Authentication Client and Server.“

As a little bit of context, it should also be noted that FIDO authentication is designed with a core focus on privacy -- all biometric and/or personally identifiable information (PII) stays local on the user's device and is not shared to the cloud or over the network.

Here is what you need to know in planning your Vegas itinerary. The headers alone hopefully are more than a sufficient attraction, although what specifically is being shown and where are included to help you locate solutions that are of the most interest.

• When your Voice is Your Password

AGNITiO "Voice iD", among the first FIDO Ready™ solutions, replaces passwords in smartphones, laptops and more -- please see a demo at ShowStoppers on January 7 (table A-41). Voice iD is the secure key that you always have with you; nothing is more natural than voice to authenticate on your phone and mobile devices. AGNITiO Voice iD performs all of a user's identification needs when mobile: authentication to devices and applications, as well as secure digital transactions.

• Adapt Legacy Systems for Fingerprint Authentication with FIDO Ready™ Portable USB Biometric Device

FingerQ (WWTT.HK) will present PrivacQ Triangle, a collaboration between FIDO Alliance members FingerQ and Synaptics, which utilizes the FIDO Ready™ Validity "Natural ID" fingerprint sensor, enabling users to adapt their laptops and legacy devices with a small and portable touch fingerprint biometric. See PrivacQ Triangle at CES booths #70203 and #70205.

• One secure key across multiple devices and services -- First U2F FIDO Ready Device™

Yubico YubiKey NEO enables secure single key log in from a mobile device or computer, to any number of online services, with a simple touch and with no client software needed. The product is an extension of the YubiKey invention, used by millions of users in 120 countries, and is the first authentication device to be U2F FIDO Ready™. See Yubico Tuesday, January 7 at CES ShowStoppers, Security booth C8 and on Wednesday, January 8, for a panel discussion on security from 5:30-6:30 PM inside the NXP Booth: Central Plaza #9.

• Use your Finger to Secure the Remote Control

CrucialTec, a FIDO Alliance Board member, will launch BTP Aero Mouse, a world-first remote control with embedded fingerprint scanner. CrucialTec is collaborating with Nok Nok Labs to integrate its secure solution onto the remote control. See a CrucialTec demo of BTP Aero Mouseat No.45022, LVH Exhibits PMA@CES.

• Use your Secure Fingerprint in eCommerce Transactions -- Online and Mobile

EgisTec will present Yukey-eFIDO to give users universal authentication capabilities for securely logging onto web applications, e.g. eCommerce, mobile payments or wallets, replacing PINs or passwords with a user's fingerprints. Yukey-eFIDO cooperates with major trusted online parties to authorize transaction requests based on FIDO authentication protocols. In cooperation and collaboration with FIDO Alliance members, EgisTec leveraged hardware prototyping and agile software development to prepare YuKey-eFIDO for the markets. It will enrich the user experience with FIDO security and privacy built into their product offerings. See EgisTec and Yukey-eFIDO at CES, booth #72329, Hall D, Venetian, Level 2.

• Using Your Iris to Authenticate You

Eyelock is a global leader in advanced iris-based identity authentication technology solutions. The company's software development kit (SDK) for embedding across OEM products and platforms extends EyeLock across logical applications by integrating the technology across devices and digital networks. See EyeLock at CES Digital Experience! on Jan. 6, 2014 from 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and on the CES show floor, booth #10404.

• Fingerprint reader for Android and Windows-based Mobile Devices

Fingerprint Cards (FPC). FPC will demonstrate its new touch fingerprint sensor FPC1020 for Android and Windows based devices in a private meeting space at the Las Vegas Trump International Hotel, including integration with Nok Nok Lab's Multifactor Server and Client for Android. For an appointment contact [email protected].   

• MicroSD card Adapts Mobile Phones and Laptops to become FIDO Ready™

GO-Trust FIDO microSD supports FIDO login and includes 8GB memory capacity for user storage. FIDO microSD will work with 99 percent of existing laptops and personal computers and the one billion Android devices in the marketplace and is intended to make devices FIDO Ready™. Demos of GO-Trust FIDO microSD can be seen at Infineon meeting suites at the Aria Hotel.

• Hardware-based Root-of-Trust for Secure Identity Applications

Infineon Technologies will showcase its SLE97144SD Secure Element for embedded applications (eSE), which is used in the Go-Trust uSD card, and its SLB9660 TPM (Trusted Platform Module). Infineon strongly focuses on the respective certifications in order to enable system providers a secure integration and management of online credentials. Infineon is committed to enabling millions of users of PCs, tablets and smartphones to securely authenticate themselves before executing online transactions. Infineon demos will be shown during scheduled meetings at the Aria Hotel.

• Protect Against Fraud with Pocket-sized Ultrasound Biometric Cyber-perimeter Defense

Sonavation AXISKEY™, on the leading edge of ultrasound biometrics, is a biometric key fob that safeguards consumers' personal and workplace accounts, online identities and transactions with a swipe of a finger. Replacing passwords, AXISKEY is a cost-effective personal cyber-perimeter defense system that is built on Sonavation's patented ultrasound impediography sensor platform. See AXISKEY at the CES Digital Experience! press event on January 6, 7:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. at the Mirage Hotel & Casino.

What makes the list of the FIDO Ready™ solutions so impressive are the breadth of capabilities being demonstrated as well as the momentum the Alliance itself is highlighting. The history of the tech industry is unfortunately littered with organizations seeking to create sanity from chaos, whose good intentions get derailed by either lack of industry cooperation or just plain benign neglect. The reason to keep an eye on FIDO is that if you check out its membership along with how far they have already come and how fast, it appears this effort has staying power.  Given that what they are trying to do is keep us and the online world secured in a standardized way, getting to know them at Las Vegas certainly is something to consider.