MANILA, Philippines – The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance, a consortium of companies working on developing open standards for authentication, announced that Google has joined the consortium’s board of directors.

The FIDO Alliance wants to build standards for user authentication that would lessen or otherwise remove the dependency on passwords for maintaining security on various websites, programs, and systems. With security concerns on the rise in various sectors, such a shift may seem to be sorely needed.

Google joins Lenovo, PayPal, Nok Nok Labs, and Validity on the board, with NXP Semiconductors and CrucialTec (an input device manufacturer) also becoming part of the board as well.

Google previously expressed interest in finding a better way to maintain security online. Back in January, Wired wrote a piece on a research paper written by Google’s Vice President of Security Eric Grosse and Engineer Mayank Upadhyay. In that paper, they wrote about alternative methods for logging into websites in the future.

While the FIDO Alliance looks to still be developing something that will serve as a long-term remedy to password woes, perhaps the addition of Google and other companies can help source a great idea that can open the door to a better method for staying safe. – Rappler.com