710048A New Authentication System for Websites Apps Cloud-based services and Networks - Proof of ConceptClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThe growth of the world wide web (WWW) over the last 20 years has revolutionised the way we conduct business. The private and public sectors have been able to transfer many administrative functions from their staff to their customers, so now we can pay bills with no other human being involved, we can manage our bank accounts without ever visiting a bank and we can buy almost anything we want and have it delivered to our door, all with little more than a short sequence of characters we usually call our username and password. Unfortunately, the growth of the WWW has probably been surpassed by the growth in the number of thieves and fraudsters who have profited from these technological shifts. Identity theft and credit card fraud were not phrases in everyday use 20 years ago. Today, according to the National Fraud Authority, card and online fraud in 2010, in the UK alone, amounted to over £500m. There is a variety of authentication tools currently on the market which vary in the combination of cost, convenience and security that they offer. At present, the de facto method of authentication is the username/password combination , but this is a weak form of authentication and many websites (eg banks) have implemented more complex forms of authentication. Unfortunately, more complexity usually means less convenience for the user. It can also provide the inventive criminal mind with more opportunities to find flaws in the complex procedures. The Tento card succeeds in combining strong security with convenience and simplicity, all at low cost. So the business opportunity is immense - the prospect of a British invention becoming as ubiquitous as the credit card and reducing world online fraud by £billions. The cost-effectiveness of Tento Card Authentication means we could address a far larger market than any comparable product available today. The vision we have is that millions of people worldwide will become Tento cardholders,using their cards in many everyday situations where strong authentication is required. Tento would operate its authentication system as a "cloud" service, maintaining a database of all Tento cards, but not details of the cardholders - that would continue to be the responsibility of the card issuer (bank, retailer, etc) Companies are increasingly using cloud-based authentication services - effectively outsourcing their authentication requirements to third parties and turning capital investment into operating expenditure. In March 2009, Forrester reported that 72% of respondents in their global survey were interested in implementing authentication as a service (Authentication-As–A-Service: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of VeriSign). The survey also found that cost was the foremost consideration when considering AaaS solutions. Tento has the opportunity to supply established vendors in the market with a patented, lowcost device which will make AaaS widely available.