04 August 2005

OATH & Safehaus Team On Open Source HOTP De Facto Standards

OATH, the initiative for Open AuTHentication, has confirmed that Safehaus has integrated Open Source HOTP using the OATH Reference Architecture with its Triplesec Authentication Server and HausKeys HOTP based soft token.

OATH is dedicated to helping customers reduce the cost and complexity of deploying strong authentication within enterprises, and across the Internet. OATH has attracted a industry heavyweight membership, including ARM. Safehaus.org is the first ecosystem of IT, ISV and open source developers providing open-source software components related to directory and security infrastructure.

This particular project targets enterprise organisations, allowing them to use OATH and Safehaus to deploy an open strong authentication solution for Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX users.

HOTP is an open, standards-based approach to providing strong authentication. HOTP can be implemented through hardware manufacturers or software developers who create interoperable authentication devices and software agents used across all networks, applications, and devices. The OATH and Safehaus implementation of standards-based, freely available OTP algorithms will further accelerate the adoption of strong authentication in open source environments, they both said. 

"We're pleased to work with OATH and its growing membership towards implementing HOTP algorithm within HausKeys," said Alex Karasulu, a founder of Safehaus. "OATH's reference architecture, being an open standard supported by multiple industry participants, aligns well with our open-source product philosophy".

"Safehaus will work with OATH to promote open strong authentication and to further the OATH reference architecture effort," said Colleen Kulhanek, director of business development, SafeNet, Inc. and OATH marketing chair." This approach provides organizations a deployment approach for including Windows clients in a Kerberos environment while allowing flexibility and choice in directory deployments. We are very enthusiastic about Safehaus' support for HOTP within the HausKey development work. Our work together furthers the development of royalty-free open authentication."

The Reference Architecture document is free and available to interested organisations at: http://www.openauthentication.org/reg.asp.

Registration is required to access the document. For more about OATH, visit: http://www.openauthentication.org.