BT makes 'token gesture' at user authentication

Password management and authentication firm Activcard has signed a deal with BT to provide secure, token-based remote access for staff logging into the corporate network.

The tokens work by generating one-time passwords for access to different devices such as BlackBerry, laptop, PC and PDA. ActivCard claims the system is inherently more secure, and it also promises to remove the headache of password management.

Marc Hudavert, VP and general manager at ActivCard, told silicon.com: "When you have to manage passwords - especially across a large organisation - it becomes incredibly complex and time-consuming."

He cited figures from IDC and PwC that show around 60 per cent of IT help desk enquiries are password requests.

Hudavert said the saving of time and unnecessary administration on the help desk is one area which helps token-based systems create lower total cost of ownership.

But that's not to say the systems have no associated added costs of their own.

"There are some training costs associated to moving employees across to a new system of authentication," he said, but he added that BT staff are "already used to using hard tokens" as the result of a previous RSA system.

ActivCard, which has said the deal "is very important in terms of value and potential", claims it beat rival RSA to BT's coveted signature this time around.

BT has already deployed around 25,000 tokens and plans to take that number up to around 80,000, according to Hudavert.

While Hudavert said he was not at liberty to reveal the value of the deal, he said his company is very hopeful that it will prove a real money-spinner, especially as BT considers rolling out the service internally as well as to corporate customers.

A consumer rollout is also not out of the question, according to Hudavert.