Global Future Councils-The Network of the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum’s network of Global Future Councils is the world’s foremost multistakeholder and interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking to shape a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable future. 

The network convenes more than 1000 of the most relevant and knowledgeable thought leaders from academia, government, international organizations, business and civil society, grouped in expertise-based thematic councils. It is an invitation-only community and members are nominated for a one-year period.

Mission

Global Future Council members provide strategic insights, scientific evidence, forward guidance and multidisciplinary understanding of major issues that will shape the post-COVID world through:

-      Identifying and monitoring the latest trends, scientific research and frontier technologies with significant potential to transform societies, industries and regions

-      Contributing their expertise and knowledge, sharing key lessons and developing innovative ideas to “building back better” initiatives of industry, regional and solution platforms

-      Providing decision-makers from business and government with a multidisciplinary understanding of the strategic implications

-      Deepening understanding of the drivers and enablers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how emerging technologies can be leveraged to address global, regional and industry issues

-      Informing the World Economic Forum’s strategic initiatives by providing feedback on the direction of existing projects as well as new areas of focus

-      Increasing public awareness of the potential benefits and risks related to major breakthroughs

Members' engagement

Council members participate regularly in online interactions and council activities via the Forum’s TopLink platform, emails and regular virtual meetings. The council delivers its outcomes as part of the Forum’s ongoing projects, initiatives and meetings.

https://www.weforum.org/communities/global-future-councils

Global e∙dentity™ Proposes Biometric Technology to Identify Asymptomatic Individuals with suspected

Global e∙dentity™ a national security biometric tech startup founded by U.S. Navy veteran Robert Adams, has proposed a simple biometric technology that can also be used to identify individuals infected asymptomatically with the Covid-19 infection.

Global e∙dentity™ is moving toward fielding a biometric technology that will implement a rapid airport biometrics health scanning to assist airlines like United (UAL), American (AAL), British Airways (ICAGY) and Lufthansa (DLAKY), which collectively carried nearly 650 million passengers in 2019, and illustrate a pathway for countries to reopen international travel safely.

“It seems that many are focusing on taking individual temperature scans, as if temperature alone will identify the infected,” Adams states. 

“This virus is more sophisticated than SARS-1, and we think it makes more sense to use a method that’s fast and non-invasive to quickly identify asymptomatic individuals. 

Our team, using our Global e∙dentity™ biometric technology – the same technology that has a one hundred percent accuracy on individual identification — we can identify and stop asymptomatic super spreaders from traveling so the rest of the world can get back to normal.”

“Using (NIR) Near Infrared light transducer and/or our custom-designed Ultrasound CMUT for multi-modal biometric identification,” Adams continues, “we’ve determined that during the scanning of the vascular network for identity we can identify asymptomatic individuals, in basic, noting the alteration in the blood vessel morphology and the degree of oxygen carrying capacity was severely reduced in asymptomatic individuals; these people then can be required to have a secondary RT-PCR screening before notifying authorities of a suspected Covid-19 infection.

“We came across this by accident during our POC development process,  testing over 25,000 individuals with our partner company for our patented identity biometric technology related to patent US10,135,822 and our other related patents,” Adams says, “we’ve since shared this simple fast easy to implement method to identify potential asymptomatic individuals with technology companies like Apple, Samsung, LG, as well as with senior members of the current Administration since the start of the pandemic.

https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/category/news/global-e%e2%88%99dentity-proposes-biometric-te

Apple launches web authentication using FIDO standard with Touch ID or Face ID biometrics in Safari

Apple has launched support for Touch ID and Face ID biometrics for web logins with Safari through the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) API to allow web developers to build authentication in line with the FIDO2 specification.

The announcement was made at the company’s WWDC 2020, and Apple says it allows developers to provide strong authentication and protection from phishing on the Safari browser. The feature is available for Safari 14 running on iOS or MacOS.

Google also announced an update to its Advanced Protection Program earlier this month to allow Apple device users to log in to Google accounts using FIDO and W3C’s WebAuthn technology.

FIDO Alliance Executive Director Andrew Shikiar told Biometric Update in an interview that the move means that every major platform and modern computing device is now aligned with FIDO authentication.

That alignment can not only improve user experiences and their consistency, but also secure people’s accounts and stop the cycle of credential theft, harvesting and stuffing that have created so much liability for businesses online.

Not only that, Shikiar points out that the announcement also positions Apple, as a company with a history of educating consumers about new technology, to spur adoption of FIDO standards.

Apple’s platform authenticator utilizes the secure enclave of the iPhone or iPad to provide the private key, along with fingerprint or facial recognition for user verification.

This means any FIDO biometrics-based log-in is by default multi-factor, as the device provides a possession factor on top of the inherence factor.

Apple has also built its own attestation service. Attestation is an optional service which assures relying parties with high security needs, such as banks, of the authenticity of credentials. However, attestation can also be used to violate privacy, as the company explains in a video announcing the feature. Apple generates a unique attestation certificate for each credential so that websites cannot look for the same certificate to track users across the web. Apple Anonymous Attestation is not available yet, but is coming soon, according to the announcement.

The video also explains to developers how to implement the feature, how to onboard users, and best practices, like allowing an alternate way for users to log in, in case they use a device other than their own or change their device.

Shikiar says that in the past, in conversations with vendors and service providers, the FIDO Alliance has been asked how many users could take advantage of the technology right away, and then told the answer is not enough. Between the WebAuthn web standard and the involvement of tech giants like Google, Samsung, and now Apple, deployments can now reach almost any mobile device or browser.

Apple joined the FIDO Alliance earlier this year to bring its ecosystem into line with the local device-based standards for passwordless logical access.

“Within the next five years, the vast majority of major consumer internet services will have passwordless options, and we believe most of those will choose FIDO as a standards-based way of providing that password-free experience,” Shikiar predicts.

Companies now have “both the opportunity and the imperative” to move to stronger, local user authentication, with an enormous addressable user base, according to Shikiar. Having developed its standards and achieved broad buy-in, the FIDO Alliance is now shifting its focus towards facilitating deployment.

“The thing that really makes all of this come together is the FIDO ecosystem of vendors,” Shikiar explains. “You have over 700 FIDO-certified products on the market that support these specifications, and that companies that are looking to employ can leverage as they go to market. So any vendors out there should certainly look at getting FIDO certified if they’re not already to tap into this market opportunity as more and more companies will be seeking to deploy FIDO authentication.”

Uniken is the latest vendor to add a product to that ecosystem, as its REL-ID has been granted FIDO2 Server Certification. Frost & Sullivan also recently recognized the company for the mobile-first REL-ID platform in the consultancy’s analysis of the MEASA identity and access management market. Uniken says the certification allows its customers to provide the unphishable safety and passwordless simplicity of FIDO2 authentication through a range of end client authentication methods with a single solution.

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