US Department of State Joins Other Key Government Agencies in Adopting PhoneFactor

Demand for PhoneFactor Phone-Based Authentication Escalates Within the Government Sector

July 28, 2010 – PhoneFactor, Inc., the leading global provider of phone-based multi-factor authentication services, today announced the addition of the US Department of State, the District of Columbia government, and the Federal Railroad Administration to its client roster. These organizations join a growing list of federal, state, and local government agencies adopting PhoneFactor to meet the rigorous security needs of their remote workforces.

In a world of escalating cyber warfare, authenticating users who have access to our nation’s data – housed within disparate government networks and accessed by an increasing number of remote workers and devices – is vital to our national security.

Government entities are increasingly turning to PhoneFactor to provide a critical second factor of authentication for remote workers in a way that is both convenient for end users and IT departments. Because there are no security tokens to provision, manage, and support, PhoneFactor offers significant cost-savings, making it a fiscally responsible choice for government organizations.

With PhoneFactor, a government worker simply logs in remotely as he normally would. Instantly, his phone rings. He answers, presses # (or enters an optional PIN), and is immediately granted access. PhoneFactor also offers optional out-of-band SMS text authentication or voice biometric authentication.

PhoneFactor offers built-in integration with every major VPN platform, including Juniper, Cisco, and SonicWall, as well as web-based applications, like Outlook Web Access. Unlike soft tokens or certificates, there is no software to install on a user’s phone or computer. And unlike hard tokens, PhoneFactor is much less cumbersome for both users and the IT department. This all adds up to a significant benefit for government organizations in an emergency situation – PhoneFactor can rapidly and cost-effectively scale to large numbers of geographically diverse users – as well as meeting the everyday needs of remote workers.

“In addition to top-secret intelligence data, the federal government stores a vast amount of personal information, everything from healthcare records to tax returns,” observes Timothy Sutton, PhoneFactor CEO and Co-Founder. “The risk to individual citizens and national security is enormous. Government agencies are increasingly choosing PhoneFactor for its ability to meet their stringent two-factor security requirements, protecting the personal data of citizens and national security in a way that is cost-effective, scalable, and user friendly.”