New biometric joint effort helps organizations avoid vulnerable password schemes

Biometric fingerprint authentication isn’t just for smartphones. Entrust, Inc. and 3M Cogent are integrating biometric fingerprint authentication into the award-winning Entrust IdentityGuard software authentication platform.

This collaboration allows organizations to leverage fingerprint biometrics to authenticate users for logical access to workstations. Entrust is embedding 3M™ Cogent fingerprint capture and verification technology, which will be available to both new and current Entrust IdentityGuard customers who subscribe to software maintenance support services.                                                                                         

“Entrust and 3M share the same standards and vision for authenticating identities,” said Entrust President Dave Wagner. “Integrating proven 3M biometric authentication is another step in the platform’s evolution — a stride that continues our focus on properly protecting customer identities.”

With an increasing need to deploy second-factor authentication to protect sensitive information, organizations must balance security and usability. Adding 3M Cogent’s easy-to-use strong authentication capabilities to the Entrust IdentityGuard portfolio helps organizations to streamline secure access to both cloud and internal systems.

“Entrust and 3M have complementary offerings in the identity management marketplace — from digital certificate management to identity document issuance solutions,” said Teresa Wu, who manages the global biometric portfolio for 3M Cogent. “We will leverage our respective strengths and expertise to expand biometric capability within the Entrust IdentityGuard authentication platform to help customers deploy solutions that match their budget, users and security needs.”

In the U.S., law enforcement agencies may deploy biometric fingerprint capabilities to satisfy the FBI’s CJIS requirements for advanced authentication. This type of biometric authentication is ideal for organizations that require a combination of secure access to sensitive resources and proven user convenience.

Entrust’s flagship authentication solution, Entrust IdentityGuard, is one of the industry’s most robust authentication and identity-assurance platforms. The platform offers one of the widest ranges of authenticators on the market — and all from a single, cost-effective platform. And the addition of smartcards, mobile smart credentials and digital certificates as proven authenticators extends the platform’s versatility, scalability and cost-effectiveness.

For more information about the Entrust IdentityGuard solution, visit www.entrust.com.

About Entrust
A trusted provider of identity-based security solutions, Entrust secures governments, enterprises and financial institutions in more than 5,000 organizations covering 85 countries. Entrust’s award-winning software authentication platforms manage today’s most secure identity credentials, addressing customer pain points for cloud and mobile security, physical and logical access, citizen eID initiatives, certificate management and SSL. For more information about Entrust products and services, call 888-690-2424, email entrust@entrust.com or visit www.entrust.com.

About 3M Identity Management
3M and 3M Cogent deliver end-to-end, innovative security solutions to businesses and governments worldwide—helping to ensure the security of people and documents. With an unmatched mix of leading technologies in biometrics and credentialing as well as expert systems integration and support, 3M helps solve an array of security challenges, including efficient border management, secure issuance and authentication of civil IDs, and controlling access to facilities and information. 3M identity management technologies are used in over 100 countries around the world.  For more information visit www.3m.com/identitymanagement.

About 3M
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $31 billion in sales, 3M employs 89,000  people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust, Inc.

3M is a trademark of 3M Company.

Contact:
Lindsey Lockhart
Media Relations
Entrust Inc.
972-728-0374
lindsey.lockhart@entrust.com

Connie Thompson
3M Public Relations
(651) 733-8914