PRESS RELEASE

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nok Nok Labs, the leader in passwordless authentication, today announced a record year following broad industry acceptance of FIDO standards – and evidenced by the news that Apple, Inc. is now a member of the FIDO Alliance and has taken a leadership role as a board member. The FIDO Alliance, co-founded by Nok Nok and publicly launched in 2013, addresses industry needs for strong authentication without sacrificing ease of use, while reducing friction and vulnerabilities that often result from the use of passwords for authentication.

As broad industry acceptance of the FIDO standards continued in 2019, Nok Nok's new customer deployments increased, existing customer renewals expanded, and Nok Nok released innovative technology with support for additional use cases. Also contributing to Nok Nok's success were new global strategic partnerships, recognition and a prized GLOMO award from the GSMA, as well as increased market demand driven by global regulations that mandate strong authentication for online services.

"Nok Nok Labs and FIDO have both reached significant milestones today. When we first invented FIDO-enabled technology, it was clear that privacy and security would need to be hand-in-hand and at the heart of any authentication solution. To have Apple join the FIDO journey is a testament to our original vision of enabling strong authentication across all platforms," said Phillip Dunkelberger CEO Nok Nok Labs. "It's incredibly rewarding to have the world's largest and most successful browser manufacturers, banks, telcos, eCommerce and healthcare providers join the movement we started in 2013 to solve global user authentication challenges."

Nok Nok Solutions for the Apple Ecosystem

Since 2014, Nok Nok has supported Apple native applications on iOS devices – iPad and iPhone, and in November 2019 Nok Nok introduced the Nok Nok App SDK for Smart Watch. Now with Apple a part of the FIDO Alliance, it signals the opportunity for users of any Apple device to employ strong authentication. The Nok Nok™ S3 Authentication Suite supports strong and convenient user authentication on Apple devices - through native Mobile Apps and through the recently added FIDO support in Safari.  Apple's membership in the FIDO Alliance fuels the speculation of now being able to use FaceID/TouchID for FIDO authentication through the Safari Browser.

"Apple joining this alliance is an important signal," said Richard Clarke, former Special Advisor to the President on Cybersecurity, and Advisory Board member to Nok Nok Labs. "Password-related breaches are far more prevalent than they should be given the alternatives we have available. Apple and other Alliance members are transforming digital identity by committing to secure, standards-based authentication. It's a step in the responsible direction for corporations and the customers whose data they are responsible for protecting."

"The FIDO Alliance gained a valuable member today," said John N. Stewart, Security Expert and former Advisory Board Member to Nok Nok Labs. "By joining industry counterparts like Google and Microsoft, Apple has become the final puzzle piece with FIDO now adopted by all major browser manufacturers."

Accelerating Market and Nok Nok Momentum

Apple is the most recent industry player to join the wave of FIDO adoption over the past year.  The convergence of industry support, global regulations and market demand for Nok Nok's passwordless authentication solutions has driven global deployments and adoption. Leading financial institutions, such as BBVA have deployed Nok Nok's solutions to provide passwordless authentication while enabling them to comply with GDPR and PSD2 requirements. Nok Nok customers Intuit and T-Mobile shared the results of their deployments at Identiverse including the unique benefit that Nok Nok's technology increased Intuit's login success rate by 6% and decreased T-Mobile's "Forgot Password" user requests from 65% to 7%.  And, Nok Nok's strategic partners saw successful new deployments such as Fujitsu - whose client Aflac Japan deployed passwordless authentication and Hitachi with their client MUFG Bank.

2019 was a momentum filled year for Nok Nok and the FIDO Alliance.  And now recognizing Apple joining the FIDO Alliance in early 2020 signals even more industry adoption to follow.