We're proud to announce Keyless has taken home three separate awards in the 

We’re thrilled to be recognized in the 2023 Infosec Global Awards – winning one award is a huge achievement; winning three is a testament to our technology and the dedication and talent within our team. We hope these awards highlight the potential for emerging biometric solutions in helping to improve security, fight fraud and protect privacy,” 

said Andrea Carmignani, Co-Founder and CEO at Keyless. 

The Global InfoSec Awards honor global innovators in the cybersecurity industry who have a unique and compelling value proposition. The judges included CISSP, FMDHS, CEH, and certified security professionals, who voted based on their independent review of all nominees.

 world-first biometric authentication solutions

 that leverage privacy-enhancing cryptography to provide a secure, convenient, and privacy-focused way for users to authenticate their identity online. 

These winners are the most innovative, forward-thinking and proactive cyber security companies and service providers on the planet who are working to bring tomorrow’s cybersecurity solutions to market, today,

 said Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.

The complete list of this year's winners can be found here: 

Keyless stands out in 2023 Global Infosec Awards

A trending story a few weeks ago revealed that researchers from several British universities have trained a deep-learning model capable of stealing data from keyboard keystrokes with just a microphone. 

, revealed that this particular acoustic keylogging deep learning model has an accuracy of 95% when using a microphone placed next to a keyboard. Perhaps most alarmingly, the model has a 93% accuracy when recording keystrokes over the popular meeting software Zoom.

Acoustic keylogging is another example of the dangers posed by passwords and knowledge-based authentication protocols. Due to the nature of keylogging, it only takes one employee or customer to manually enter a password on a monitored device to have their security compromised. 

This article will explore the threat of acoustic keylogging in more detail and highlight why moving towards a passwordless, biometric MFA solution like Keyless makes all the difference in preventing your organization's sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. 

 that exploits the implementation of a routine physical security measure, rather than identifiable vulnerabilities within a protected system. 

Unlike traditional keylogging attack methods (which rely on criminals installing hardware or software to steal user credentials), a successful keylogging attack doesn't require the criminal to have access to the device. They only need the sound of a user entering their credentials and access to an AI algorithm capable of decoding the keystroke data. This can make it very difficult for security teams to detect and defend against, as this audio information may already be accessible online. 

For example, a published webinar may feature one of the presenters entering their user details as part of a demo. Alternatively, keyloggers can record a user entering their details as part of a social engineering scam taking place on a video or telephone call. Once the keystroke audio is captured, it's only a matter of time before criminals can exploit the information. Therefore, the best method for neutralizing the threat of acoustic keylogging is to 

How companies can prevent acoustic keylogging attacks

Switching to biometric authentication processes eradicates acoustic keylogging attack risk instantly, as criminals would only be able to access the sound of a user taking a selfie or tapping their fingerprint on a device to attempt to gain access to a secured system. 

Moreover, a solution like Keyless provides additional layers of security within its biometric authentication protocols. For instance, it leverages the user's device as a second authentication factor, rendering attacks from external acoustic keylogging technologies useless. 

Combining biometrics and device-based authentication also delivers additional benefits from a user experience perspective. Customers/employees no longer have to remember passwords or re-register their biometrics template whenever they get a new device. 

With its Zero-Knowledge Biometrics ™ technology, Keyless enables users to enroll their biometric data in seconds before encrypting it on the user's device, sending it to a secured cloud server, and deleting the information entirely from the user's device. Once this process is complete, users can switch devices, upgrade their equipment, and recover their account access seamlessly without raising support tickets with IT helpdesk teams. 

Finally, Keyless allows organizations to step up their security measures for specific scenarios, such as actioning high-value transactions. Once a user has entered their credentials, the solution can prompt the user to input their biometrics data again to ensure that their users and sensitive data stay protected. 

Nullify all forms of keylogging with Keyless

The threat of acoustic keyloggers is real and evolving, so safeguarding your sensitive company information by eradicating knowledge-based authentication factors is imperative. 

Keyless is an award-winning, passwordless, and 

phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication solution

 that uses biometrics to dramatically reduce account takeover fraud and improve the user experience for both customers and the workforce. 

By implementing Keyless, your organization can say goodbye to passwords and hello to improved security. 

Thanks to Keyless' robust and privacy-focused solution, malicious actors using deep-learning, augmented acoustic keyloggers are no longer a concern, as, with Keyless, the user becomes the key. 

By staying vigilant and proactive, you can effectively mitigate keylogger risks and ensure the security of your digital assets.

Interested in finding out more? To see how Keyless compares to password-based authentication solutions, why not 

Preventing Acoustic Keylogging Attacks 

In the digital era, most of our daily transactions happen online as protections like Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) have made it easier for users to confirm their identities through hardware tokens, fingerprints, passwords, etc. 

However, this level of convenience comes with a significant amount of risk. For example, a Revolut customer 

, in which criminals watch a user entering their device passcode before stealing the device and breaking into their account using correct user credentials. 

Subsequently, biometric security measures like fingerprints and facial recognition are becoming overwhelmingly popular. They're considered more secure than credentials because it’s naturally very difficult to steal someone’s unique biological identifiers. Right? 

Not exactly. Biometric authentication still has a number of security vulnerabilities. Did you know criminals will disable biometric authentication systems by turning off Face ID on an unlocked device? Biometrics can also lead to usability issues. Recovering accounts using your biometrics can be difficult if your user data is not properly processed and stored. What’s more, depending on how user data is stored, organizations using biometric authentication can run into data protection-related privacy issues.

This is where Keyless can help. We've developed a brand-new biometric technology that combines the strengths of the two existing approaches, and in doing so have created the first new biometric category in over a decade.

Biometric limitations: the two existing systems

Device-native biometrics: where data is stored and processed on the user's device

Device-native, or ‘local’ biometrics is the first of the two existing biometric authentication methods. The technology behind Apple’s Face ID, device-native biometrics offer strong privacy, as a user’s data never leaves their device. 

But device-native biometrics come with usability and interoperability issues. If your iPhone goes missing, so does any biometric data stored on it. To make matters worse: users cannot hop from an iPhone to a Samsung tablet using their biometrics.

Server-side: where data is stored and processed on a centralized server

Server-side biometric systems, also called 'centralized' systems, store and process biometric data on remote cloud servers. When users enroll, their device uploads their biometric template to the cloud. When they take a selfie to authenticate, they will generate a new template, which is compared to the one stored on the cloud. This offers user convenience and cross-device authentication, which contrasts with the device-based approach.

With centralized systems, if you lose your device, your biometric information can easily be retrieved from the cloud - your identity is not lost with the phone. Centralized biometrics also allow cross-device authentication, permitting users to enroll on one device (eg. Android) and authenticate on another (eg. Apple).

But it’s not all roses. Centralized servers are a prime target for cybercriminals. If attackers can breach a server, they can gain access to a huge amount of biometric templates. There are also a host of privacy concerns depending on how the data is stored on the cloud server. For example, many centralized systems are not GDPR compliant.

At Keyless we have developed a third way. Combining the best of both worlds, we offer the privacy of local biometrics with the usability of the centralized system. Known as Zero-Knowledge BiometricsTM, or ZKB for short, it is the only biometric authentication system that does not store biometric data anywhere —neither on the device nor the cloud.

To describe how this is achieved, we must first clarify what does and does not constitute biometric data. In the context of facial recognition, biometric data includes the selfie itself, any biometric features extracted from the selfie, and anything that can link these features back to the user. On the other hand, any piece of data that cannot be linked back to the user is not biometric data.

The Zero-Knowledge Biometrics system adds the privacy offered by local biometrics to the usability and flexibility of centralized biometrics. Data leaves the device and is sent to the Keyless Cloud Service. However, unlike other centralized systems, this data is transformed into encrypted data using the Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) protocol before leaving the device. This ensures it no longer qualifies as biometric data and fully preserves the privacy of the biometric data within. The Keyless Cloud Service cannot read the transformed data nor extract any biometric information from it.

Zero-Knowledge Biometrics comes with a host of benefits.

ZKB offers the usability and interoperability benefits of server-side biometrics. Any device with a front-facing camera can be used to create a biometric template. This is because we put human identifiers at the center of authentication, rather than the device, ensuring a consistent user experience across operating systems. ZKB also supports Multi-Factor Authentication for PSD2 and SCA compliance.

Because we transform data before it leaves the device, we offer the same privacy benefits as local biometrics. What’s more, our use of ZKB has meant that we are the 

world's first biometrics vendor to achieve FIDO and FIDO2 certification

. Keyless also adheres to GDPR and CCPA standards.

Keyless complies with internationally recognized quality management and information security standards, including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.

Enhance your security with Keyless biometrics

In summary, local biometrics favor privacy and centralized biometrics favor usability and flexibility. The first is better at protecting data, whereas the second prioritizes user experience. 

Keyless leverages the strengths of both device-based and server-side biometrics to deliver a facial biometrics solution that favors privacy and usability - an industry first.

 to learn more about the Keyless difference and its advantages over existing biometric authentication systems.

The Two Biometric Authentication Systems: Pros, Cons, and Keyless

We're delighted to share that our pioneering work in privacy-enhancing passwordless biometric authentication has earned us significant recognition on the global stage, with yet another win and nomination during this year’s abundant awards season.

Here's a quick rundown of the new accolades that highlight our achievements.

, known for celebrating outstanding business accomplishments, have honored us with the prestigious ‘

This recognition highlights that privacy-enhancing solutions are setting new benchmarks in passwordless security, helping to defend businesses against account takeover fraud, phishing, and evolving credential-based threats. 

We're also excited to announce that we have been shortlisted for the ‘Innovation in Cyber Award’ at 

. The National Cyber Awards commend exceptional achievements in cyber innovation and digital security. 

The final winners of The National Cyber Awards will be revealed in September. Our nomination is a noteworthy achievement, and we're honored to be recognized alongside other top innovators who share our dedication to enhancing digital security.

Our Commitment to a Secure Digital Future

The recent industry nods come after multiple wins at the

. The awards are a testament to the dedication and hard work of our team, and are helping to further solidify our position as industry leaders in the passwordless authentication market.

Keyless stands out in 2023 Global Infosec Awards

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