The move to make your smartphone the key to all your other connected devices continues with Google’s purchase of a security solution that allows the smartphone to authenticate a user as they log in to a website. SlickLogin uses high frequency sound waves to verify that a person trying to access a website is in fact who they say they are.
Google has purchased SlickLogin for an undisclosed amount in what is clearly a huge win for the 3-person company and its unique approach to security. The SlickLogin solution only works if the smartphone user has the SlickLogin app and the website being accessed on another device is also enabled for the company’s sound wave verification. So distribution is obviously paramount to SlickLogin’s success, and now the solution has that potential.
SlickLogin can be used as a primary means of verification or as a secondary verification after a password has been entered. The website and the smartphone send high frequency sound waves to one another to verify identity. The sounds are inaudible to the human ear, and are unique at each occurrence, meaning that they cannot be recorded and used later.
Since the SlickLogin solution is smartphone-based, a stolen phone means a security can be compromised. A person holding a smartphone can use it to log in to SlickLogin-enabled websites without unlocking the smartphone. It’s unclear how the SlickLogin solution would work when the user is trying to access the website on the smartphone itself.
SlickLogin was part of TechCrunch Disrupt SF last September, and at that time the company said it was working with a major bank. A financial institution would probably use the audio verification as one part of a two-factor authentication solution, meaning that a user would need an id and password in addition to the smartphone app in order to access accounts.
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