Canadian Navy to Trial Behavioral Biometrics for Access to Critical IT

The Royal Canadian Navy will be trialing a passwordless authentication system to let staff access mission-critical IT systems, with Ottawa-based Zighra having been selected to provide the technology.

Zighra’s solution is designed to operate through a mobile app. At its core, it’s a behavioral biometrics solution, assessing user patterns to enable continuous, passive authentication; though it also incorporates other factors, such as device data, to that end. The solution is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of 16 issued and pending patents as of this past July.

For the RCN, this translates into an authentication solution that could be much more secure than passwords or smart cards, and more convenient for staff, allowing personnel to immediately access vital IT systems. In a statement, Zighra said the pilot will see personnel using “a combination of soft and hard biometric factors” to enable them to authentication “with reduced interruption” and no need for password entry.

The Canadian military arm is not alone in seeking out such a solution. In the US, the Department of Defense’s Defense Information Systems Agency has been working for years on a next-gen credential for personnel that could incorporate behavioral biometrics, among other potential factors, to enable convenient yet highly secure access.

Beyond those advantages, Zighra’s solution may also have proven appealing to the Royal Canadian Navy thanks to its FIDO certification, and the fact that user authentication is performed on the user’s device, with no need to send data to an external server. (Additionally, the fact that the company is Canadian surely did not hurt its case.)

“Zighra is excited to work with RCN on this innovative pilot, bringing passwordless access to mission-critical IT systems using continuous authentication, FIDO, and on-device artificial intelligence,” commented Zighra CEO Deepak Dutt. “This effort is not only a significant milestone for the Digital Navy initiative but also for other providers of mission-critical services whose users require secure access and authentication to applications, without distracting those users from focusing on their immediate mission during these times.”

While the contract has officially been awarded to Zighra, the company has not yet revealed the planned timing of the RCN pilot.

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October 20, 2021 – by Alex Perala