News
Solfyre launches SID
November 2015 by Marc Jacob
British cybersecurity pioneer Solfyre is releasing its personal login manager app, SID at Web Summit in Dublin today. The iPhone only app will be available in the App Store in January 2016. Android and Windows Mobile versions will be available in early 2016. The new app ensures that unique and complex passwords can be used for all of your online accounts including online banking without the need for each password to be written down. Instead it is encrypted on your phone and not stored on the Internet.
Craig Vallis, founder and CEO of Solfyre said, “Solfyre started as a quest to create an alternative to using Google and Facebook to login into websites but has resulted in so much more. Not only did we succeed in creating one account that logs you into everywhere on the Internet, offers maximum security and is easy enough for everyone to use but we’ve created the most incredible login experience. SID is so quick and hassle-free that you’ll wonder how we’ve done it.”
Solfyre soon realised that the challenge was not a technology challenge, but a user experience and user adoption challenge. By systematically analysing the login process for hundreds of websites they discovered that password managers have failed and as have identity standards and protocols. By analysing each step in the process with the single guiding principle of making it simpler and quicker for users it has redefined the experience and taken it to one of the most unlikely of places - the mobile phone.
Password managers have been around for years but have actually failed in resolving "the password issue" itself. Success would mean never hearing instruction to change passwords every time there is a cyber-breach. And now they are increasing irrelevant as websites are pushed to adopt two-factor authentication, one time passwords or even a hardware solution.
The problem with Identity protocols and standards is that they have attacked the problem from the website or the Identity provider perspective, giving only small thought to how the users have to engage with it. Poor adoption and difficult development cycles will continue to hamper these and confuse users.
Following on from three spectacular data loss stories over the last week with British Gas, M&S and TalkTalk all being compromised, the arrival of SID is very timely. SID has two major benefits, it drastically simplifies logging on to websites and securely encrypts and remembers your passwords. SID leverages single-use QR codes to create a simple but effective two factor authentication using your mobile. SID users have their passwords automatically changed as data breaches are announced. It delivers peace of mind in a world where all manner of criminals are trying to steal your data.
The key issues with passwords are:
1. The most secure ones are long and complex and therefore not easy to remember. The result is we all use a straightforward one that we can remember but it is easy to crack.
2. Often we don’t use different passwords instead using the same one or two across our online accounts.
3. Once one account is compromised, criminals use automation to ensure that all others with the same password will be vulnerable to being hacked.
“SID is just brilliant, only after using it for a few hours did I realise how poor my own password security was. It makes the pain of remembering account names and passwords into a joy whilst ensuring I don’t open myself up to being hacked by criminals or compromised by incompetent website operators.” Steve O’Donnell – Security Analyst
Solfyre is 90% of the way through the development of Step 1 of SID and is crowdfunding to assist in funding the last development by taking a lifetime subscription for a one-off fee in advance. This will give access to all of the functionality as it is released.
