Microsoft will ship a password replacement solution in Windows 10, and plans to support FIDO authentication. FIDO Alliance board member Microsoft revealed their intentions today, and discussed their plans at the White House Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection summit at Stanford University, where Microsoft and other FIDO Alliance members emphasized the importance of an ecosystem with industry standards. The summit addressed strong authentication among the five featured topics, and FIDO Alliance members presented the ways in which FIDO solutions enable the world to move beyond passwords.

Microsoft has said they are enabling a number of enterprise scenarios to showcase integration of FIDO authentication with Windows 10 sign-in, Azure Active Directory, and major SaaS services. Future plans will showcase FIDO authentication in Windows 10 Active Directory integration for on-premise scenarios and Microsoft Account integration for Microsoft consumer services, such as Outlook.com and OneDrive.

Microsoft has contributed design inputs to the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance, to be incorporated within FIDO 2.0 Technical Specifications. Transitioning away from passwords and to a stronger form of identity is one of the great challenges that we face in online computing. As a member of the FIDO Alliance, Microsoft is working alongside industry partners to change the nature of authentication by developing specifications that define an open, scalable, interoperable set of mechanisms that supplant reliance on passwords to more securely authenticate users of online services.

Silicon Valley Against Cyberattacks

President Barack Obama gave a speech at Stanford University asking tech industry executives for closer cooperation in defending against hackers.

He said companies should share more information both with each other and with his administration.

Obama signed an executive order aimed at encouraging companies to share more cyber threat data through "information sharing and analysis organizations" - hubs where companies share information with each other and with the Department of Homeland Security.

It is one step in a long effort to make companies as well as privacy and consumer advocates more comfortable with proposed legislation that would offer firms protection from being sued for handing over customer information to the government.