Subj: SAFLINK Unveils 'Forget Your Password' Internet Strategy
Date: 10/4/00 8:57:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: AOL News
SAFLINK Unveils 'Forget Your Password' Internet Strategy
New Product Suite Will Bring Free Biometric Solutions to the Internet,
Enabling Users To Replace Passwords With Biometric Authentication
REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- SAFLINK Corporation (Nasdaq: ESAF), a leading global biometric software provider, announced today a major new initiative called "Forget Your Password" that will make biometric identification and authentication widely available for Internet applications for the first time. A new product suite expected to be introduced in beta versions at Fall Comdex in November will identify and authenticate Internet users and their transactions through unique biometric characteristics such as voiceprints, eliminating the manageability and security problems associated with passwords.
(Photo: newscom.com )
The cornerstone of the suite will be a free, voice-based, downloadable software program designed to secure credit card and other personal information and simplify access to protected Web destinations. Developed in cooperation with Jotter Technologies, the software will allow consumers and e-businesses to use voice recognition instead of a password to streamline their Web activities with a feature-rich Personal Internet Assistant including e-wallet, form-fill and personalized "ticker" capabilities. Additional biometric technologies, such as fingerprint and iris recognition, will be available for purchase, expanding the system's benefits beyond voice.
The suite will also include the new SAF Internet Server, enabling Web sites and e-businesses to securely store individual biometric identities, conduct tamper-proof authentication transactions, and send messages directly to the Personal Internet Assistant. The new server will feature multi-biometric, cross-platform security with the scalability to accommodate the volume demands of large websites.
SAFLINK's strategy of permitting end-users to download the client software at no cost follows the example of companies like AOL, Adobe, Netscape and Real Networks which use similar tactics to generate mainstream exposure and acceptance for new technologies. The objective of the strategy is to help SAFLINK build an installed user base, capture early market share, and stimulate demand for its server-side software as well as other revenue-generating products and services.
"Given the difficulty of keeping track of multiple passwords and the relative ease with which they can be stolen, lost or shared, passwords are an inefficient and risky way to offer access to Web sites and authenticate user identities for e-commerce purposes," says Jeffrey P. Anthony, chairman and chief executive of SAFLINK Corporation.
"By utilizing the biometric capabilities of our new product suite, online enterprises will be able to reduce credit card fraud, repudiated transactions, unauthorized access to content, and a broad range of password-related problems," Anthony adds. "At the same time, end users will be able to log in without having to remember different passwords or worry about losing them."
SAFLINK's established Secure Authentication Facility (SAF)(TM) family of multi-biometric products already provides user identification and authentication for network security applications in corporate networks, intranets and extranets. The Forget Your Password strategy will extend those capabilities to the Internet.
With this new solution, end-users will be able to access sites equipped with SAFLINK's SAF Internet Server with only one logon. The e-commerce and e-business marketplaces will be able to easily and affordably add a biometric "front door" to their sites to lower the risk of fraud, protect sensitive information, and facilitate major transactions such as online stock trades, e-banking and business-to-business communications. In the future, network and Web administrators will be able to limit access to a specific area of a Web site or screen employees dialing into a corporate site by requiring biometric identifications.
In addition to overcoming the inefficiencies and risks of passwords, SAFLINK's Forget Your Password program is designed to address widespread concern over Internet confidentiality and privacy. A 1999 U.S. Department of Commerce study found that almost two-thirds of Americans are "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about the issue. A recent study by Jupiter Communications found that 27 percent of potential online purchasers stop short of actually placing an order because they do not want to provide personal information.
Biometric solutions can help solve password-related problems because they measure physical characteristics such as voiceprints, fingerprints, iris patterns and facial contours that are virtually impossible to steal. As a result, biometrics are considered the single most effective means of electronic security available today for client/server-based user authentication.
"Our vision is to provide e-businesses and individuals with software solutions that will make communicating more convenient and secure, no matter what network access device may be used in the future," Anthony relates. "Our new product strategy is the first step to providing a safe, simple and cost-effective way to bypass obsolete password technology over the Internet and within the corporate network."
SAFLINK Corporation (www.saflink.com) develops biometric solutions for enterprise network and Internet applications. The company provides cost-effective, multi-biometric software solutions to verify individual identity, protect business and personal information, and replace passwords and PINs, expediting the process of safeguarding and simplifying access to electronic systems and enabling new online services for customers. The company is based in Redmond, Washington, and is traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol ESAF.
The aforementioned remarks contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including without limitation those related to future products. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed above.
NOTE: All brands are products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.
CONTACT: Jeff Anthony of SAFLINK Corporation, 425-881-6766, or janthony@saflink.com; or Steve Simon of S&S Public Relations, 847-955-7730, ext. 237, or stevel@sspr.com, for SAFLINK Corporation.
SOURCE SAFLINK Corporation
CO: SAFLINK Corporation
ST: Washington
IN: CPR MLM
SU: PDT
10/04/2000 08:55 EDT prnewswire.com |
