WALL, N.J., July 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIO-key International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKYI), an innovative provider of identity and access management (IAM) solutions powered by biometrics, today announced that growth of its IAM footprint in higher education continues to accelerate within North America as well as internationally. Santa Rosa Junior College and prior to BIO-key’s acquisition of PistolStar, Wesley Theological Seminary and the University of Guam, have chosen the PortalGuard solution to combat the more frequent, more sophisticated cybersecurity threats now facing higher education institutions while also improving the access experience for their end-users.
For Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC), providing Single Sign-On (SSO) to the application environment, protected by two-factor authentication, is the main priority for their 21,000 end-users. PortalGuard is tasked with providing secure SSO to applications, including Canvas, G Suite, Escape Online, a custom Student Information System (SIS) application, Microsoft Office 365, and nineteen Shibboleth enabled applications, among others. Also, with PortalGuard’s flexible two-factor authentication capabilities, the SRJC security team is planning to leverage both a mobile authenticator and YubiKey hardware tokens to secure access for web applications and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
The IT team at the University of Guam is focused on lowering costs for help desks calls related to password resets and reducing login prompts for their 5,000 end-users accessing enterprise applications. Since the March 2020 adoption of PortalGuard, it is anticipated that the solution will significantly improve end-user access by providing robust self-service capabilities and secure SSO to applications, including Ellucian Colleague, Moodle and Microsoft Office 365, among others. Strengthening security policies for end-user passwords, along with implementing SSO, means better security for the institution without negatively impacting the user experience.
Wesley Theological Seminary’s IT team has sought an IAM solution that would provide an end-user with a single password across multiple IT systems while enabling the added security and convenience of Single Sign-On. By using PortalGuard, which it contracted to utilize in March 2020, the Wesley IT team anticipates that it will be able to deliver a unified portal experience to improve access to critical applications for over 600 end-users. For this particular project, PortalGuard has enabled SSO for Microsoft Office 365, Ellucian Colleague & WebAdvisor, Blackboard, and Blackbaud. Additionally, to date the school had been able to secure the self-service password reset process and provide 24x7 self-service capabilities while substantially reducing the number of support calls coming into the help desk.
“Addressing new cybersecurity challenges while improving the end-user access experience is a top priority for most higher education institutions in 2020,” stated Mark Cochran, President, PortalGuard. “Online learning and work from home, including blended and hybrid scenarios have presented both new security challenges and opportunities to drive digital transformation initiatives forward. PortalGuard’s enterprise solution is uniquely positioned to provide flexible security solutions for higher education that offers significant IAM improvements and lasting value.”
About BIO-key International, Inc. (www.bio-key.com)
BIO-key is revolutionizing authentication with biometric solutions that enable convenient and secure access to devices, information, applications, and high-value transactions. BIO-key’s software and hardware finger scanning solutions offer secure, user-friendly, and attractively priced alternatives to passwords, PINs, tokens, and security cards, enabling enterprises and consumers to secure their networks and devices as well as their information in the cloud.
BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement
All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those included within or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our history of losses and limited revenue; our ability to raise additional capital; our ability to protect our intellectual property; changes in business conditions; changes in our sales strategy and product development plans; changes in the marketplace; continued services of our executive management team; security breaches; competition in the biometric technology industry; market acceptance of biometric products generally and our products under development; our ability to execute and deliver on contracts in Africa; our ability to expand into Asia, Africa and other foreign markets; the duration and severity of the current coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our business operations, sales cycles, personnel, and the geographic markets in which we operate; delays in the development of products and statements of assumption underlying any of the foregoing as well as other factors set forth under the caption see "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Additionally, there may be other factors of which the Company is not currently aware that may affect matters discussed in forward-looking statements and may also cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. In particular, the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak to economic conditions and the industry in general and the financial position and operating results of our company in particular have been material, are changing rapidly, and cannot be predicted.
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Investor & Media Contacts
William Jones, David Collins
Catalyst IR
212-924-9800
bkyi@catalyst-ir.com