Mercari, Inc. (“Mercari”) announces that on December 8, 2023, it became a board member of the FIDO Alliance1, an open industry standards-setting association promoting the standardization of online authentication technology meant to replace conventional passwords.
Established in July 2012, the FIDO Alliance is an international standardization organization aiming to improve both the security and convenience of online services by deploying FIDO Authentication, a technology for authentication applications that does not use passwords.
In November 2022, Mercari joined the FIDO Alliance as a sponsor member with the goal of strengthening our countermeasures against fraud and cyberattacks, including phishing.2 In April 2023, Mercari introduced Passkey3, a password-less biometric authentication feature, to the Mercari marketplace app, and the company has continued to advance its implementation of FIDO Authentication for the various services Mercari provides.
In addition, in order to enhance the company’s information sharing and partnerships with other members of the FIDO Alliance in Japan, in November 2023, Mercari Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer Naohisa Ichihara joined the FIDO Japan Working Group as Vice Chairperson. In light of expanding our role in these activities and joining as a board member of the FIDO Alliance, we will take the initiative in such matters as the FIDO Alliance’s organizational operations, strategic planning, and the release of technical specs and other such documentation.
“Building an environment for safe, secure, and fair transactions” is one of the focus areas of “Building Long-Term Public Trust,” one of Mercari’s material topics (the most important issues Mercari has to resolve through its business activities). The inclusion of Mercari as a member of the FIDO Alliance Board will allow us to further promote anti-fraud measures and strengthen security on Mercari in order to achieve our mission while providing our users with safe and secure services and contributing to the development of a safe digital society for the future.
1. For more information about the FIDO Alliance, see the following: https://fidoalliance.org/
2. Announcement of Mercari joining the FIDO Alliance (available only in Japanese)
https://about.mercari.com/security/news/articles/20221101_fidoalliance/
3. Support for passkeys, a password-less form of authentication using biometrics, introduced on the Mercari marketplace app (available only in Japanese) https://about.mercari.com/press/news/articles/20230414_passkeys/