Fingerprints are all that's needed now for the 300 employees of the $1.9 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union to access the more than 60 programs they use to do their jobs.
MSUFCU in East Lansing has deployed centrally managed software and readers from DigitalPersona Inc. of Redwood City, Calif., to eliminate the need to remember and type in separate strong passwords, the company and credit union said.
The credit union's security policies require passwords that contain three or more types of characters and must be changed every 90 days. Now the fingerprint provides the authentication for the software to enter the stored passwords through a single sign-on that reduces risk while increasing productivity, the company and credit union said.
"Instead of getting frustrated with having to remember dozens of complex passwords, now they simply use their finger to log in," said Debbie Serrano, network technician at the 158,000-member MSUFCU.
DigitalPersona said it now provides authentication and endpoint protection solutions to more than 1,000 customers, including about 50 credit unions.
