•By offering FIDO Authentication, LINE aims to improve safety and convenience

 

TOKYO – May 17, 2017 – LINE Corporation announced today that it has joined the board of the FIDO Alliance, a non-profit, international standards organization that proposes technical and certification specifications for user-friendly biometrics-based and second-factor authentication. 

 

 

 

The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, launched in 2012, is an international standards organization consisting of over 250 companies and partners (as of May 17, 2017) spanning many industries and corporations, including internet companies, solution providers, financial institutions, credit card companies, telecommunication carriers. Its 34-company board includes representatives from Google, Microsoft, Intel, ARM, and NTT DOCOMO.

 

With an emphasis on generality, interoperability, and security, the technical standards proposed by the FIDO Alliance allow for the safe and convenient use of a variety of internet services without being solely reliant on the need to enter a password. In 2016, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web, started work on Web Authentication, a standard based on the FIDO 2 Web APIs.

 

FIDO Alliance uses two sets of authentication specifications – Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) for password-less authentication like biometrics, and Universal Second Framework (U2F) for second-factor authentication – to ensure stronger security for web applications and other services. By implementing these authentication methods into LINE and other applications, LINE aims to resolve various security and privacy concerns, including phishing, account hijacking, and unauthorized use of services, stemming from existing password authentication systems.

 

LINE is dedicated to continuing to improve security and convenience, including by implementing the password-less authentication methods proposed by FIDO Alliance, not only for the main LINE messaging app and other existing apps, but also for future IoT and other services.

 

About the FIDO Alliance

Established: July 2012 (founded); February 2013 (publicly launched)

Primary activities: Planning and promoting standardized specifications for open and secure interoperable password-less online authentication

Representative: Brett McDowell (Executive Director)

Website: https://fidoalliance.org/

FIDO Alliance executive director Brett McDowell:

“LINE is a true innovator in social media, providing an innovative platform that gives users across many Asian countries more convenient ways to interact and transact online. The LINE mission is very much aligned with the FIDO Alliance vision of providing more convenient ways to authenticate to online services while simultaneously providing strong security,” said Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO Alliance. “We look forward to LINE’s contributions as a board member of the FIDO Alliance to help us accelerate achieving our mission to move the world beyond passwords, including but not limited to seeing LINE bring simpler, stronger FIDO Authentication to its hundreds of millions of users.”

 

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