Authentication Security Startup BioPassword Raises Its Profile

two-factor authentication Active Directory Citrix

BioPassword Enterprise Edition features a neural networking engine that analyzes a person's unique typing pattern and uses the information in the authentication process to bolster security, said Greg Wood, CTO at BioPassword, Issaquah, Wash. Previous versions of BioPassword relied on the less-accurate method of statistical modeling, according to Wood, a former chief security officer at Microsoft.

In the new version, technology called adaptive learning enables the neural networking engine to build a unique biometric template that fine-tunes its accuracy over time, Wood said. "The neural networking engine gives us the flexibility of adaptive learning as well as better accuracy and fewer false rejects," he said. BioPassword added Active Directory support in BioPassword Enterprise by bringing on a couple of developers who worked on authentication in Windows 2003, Wood said.

Adding support for Citrix will help BioPassword boost its profile in the two-factor authentication solution space, said Bill Tomlinson, national security practice director at DynTek, a solution provider in Irvine, Calif.

Two-factor authentication gives companies stronger protection of sensitive information, Tomlinson noted. "If you look at recent security breaches, people are gaining access to information they really don't need access to, and two-factor authentication provides you with the necessary extra layer of security," he said.

On the channel front, BioPassword has signed up about 40 North American partners and uses a model in which partners handle all product sales and implementation, said Dean Bravos, vice president of worldwide channel sales at BioPassword. In return, partners get sales and technical training, as well as the ability to take authentication to new customers, he added.

One of these new customers is a school district that recently signed a deal with DynTek to deploy BioPassword technology, which shows the versatility of the technology, Tomlinson said. "We see opportunities to use [BioPassword's] technology across the board, to deal with security needs in areas where they don't have the money for token-based solutions," he said.

BioPassword in June also announced it had received an unspecified strategic investment from Citrix Systems, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.