The FIDO Hackerthon Launching Event Teaser was held at Samsung SDS Jamsil, Seoul, on March 2 by the FIDO Alliance Korea Working Group. Samsung SDS, BC Card, INITECH, eWBM, Yubiko, AirCUVE, LINE, and SK Telecom participated as Hackerthon mentors on the day. “A stronger and more convenient authentication than the existing passwords can be realized by using FIDO protocol-based biometric identity and hardware keys. Whatever it is that you need to log on, it couldn’t be easier than this” said an official of the FIDO Alliance Korea Working Group.

“We have made security chips and have applied fingerprint algorithm from SOC to Golden Gate to offer better and improved security. Alongside, we will provide unsparing support including airplane tickets for the RSA Conference” said Hong Young-suk, the director of eWBM.

The FIDO Alliance is a non-profit technology standardization organization that has around 200 member companies and organizationsin the world including Google, MS, Amazon, Intel, Visa Inc., Facebook, Samsung Electronics, BC Card, LINE and Alibaba.It makes and provides next generation authentication standards for online platform users to conveniently use biometric identity or USB security keys. eWBM, a fabless semiconductor, joined the FIDO Alliance as the fourth company in Koreathis year after Samsung Electronics, BC Card, and Raon.

“We have poured years of our expertise in semiconductor and being a member of the FIDO Alliance will encourage us to accelerate the technology we have accumulated in the field. I hope we can take a great part in making online security easier and more convenient alongside the FIDO Alliance” said Stephen Oh, CEO of eWBM.

“The recent fishing patterns of crackers are to hook online users by blocking the log in and asking to log in again to make note of the log in information. In other words, the current password system can be an easy prey for crackers. In this respect, more industry specialists are seeing the need for alternatives such as biometric identity like fingerprint” said Oh Sung-hwan, the team leader of eWBM.

eWBM developed a security program MCU (Micro Control Unit)‘MS500’ and a FIDO certified USB product; with these as the springboard, the company is preparing to jump high this year by working in hand with MS (Microsoft) in terms of IoT solutions. “We joined the Microsoft Azure Certified for Things that can enable IoT solutions in speed with approved hardware and software. Our job is to supply parts to MS as a trustworthy partner company. I think it is such a great feat that a Korean venture can supply parts to the largest IT giant in the world” said an official of eWBM.

Azure is a public cloud platform developed by MS. It combined IaaS (infrastructure functioning) and PaaS (application development tool) and provides web, virtual machines, and storage services. “Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT provides interactive operation solutions and supports customized IoT services for businesses. eWBM is a proven and trustworthy partner of us and we expect it will play a great role in terms of building next generation IoT authentication systems” said Jerry Lee, the marketing director of the MS Azure Internet of Things.

“We are ready to work with MS and we hope to make a great advancement in the field of new level online security solutions. We are providing various MCU and modules with our MS500, LoRa, FIDO2 and IP camera and we are ambitious to also work with Amazon in near future” said CEO Stephen Oh.