The IT Nerd

Token, a revolutionary provider of secure, wearable authentication solutions, today announced the appointment of Robert Osterwise as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Tim Tonges as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Osterwise and Tonges join Token’s executive leadership team reporting to CEO John Gunn.

As CTO, Osterwise is responsible for advancing Token’s technology vision. He brings deep expertise across multiple areas including circuit design, firmware, and application development. Most recently, Osterwise held the role of Vice President Advanced Technology, Head of IoT, Digital Innovation, Emerging Technologies at Stanley Black & Decker. Before his tenure at Stanley Black & Decker, Osterwise was Technical Director at AT&T and held senior technology roles at Giesecke & Devrient.

As CRO, Tonges is responsible for Token’s sales strategy, revenue growth, and global expansion of the sales organization. Tonges brings more than 20 years of sales leadership experience with technology and cybersecurity solutions at leading companies including FusionStorm, Bell Microproducts, and Pomeroy. He has a history of driving triple digit growth and establishing category leadership.

About the Token Ring with BioTouchSecure

CISA, an agency of the US DHS, reports that 90% of ransomware losses are the result of phishing attacks and cybercriminals gaining access to networks as legitimate users. Token’s Next-Generation MFA Smart Ring stops these attacks by eliminating the inherent weaknesses in 20-year-old legacy MFA technology.

Token Ring is a simple, easy-to-implement, and user-friendly way to stop ransomware attacks. BioTouchSecure integrates capacitive fingerprint biometrics, the most secure form of user authentication, into an attractive wearable device for the ultimate in user convenience and enterprise security. Token Ring was recently honored with Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Award.

Token, a revolutionary provider of secure, wearable authentication, today announced that its innovative Token Ring with BioTouch Secure has been honored in the Science and Technology category of Fast Company‘s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards. Selected from over 1,300 global entries across all categories, the Token Ring ushers in a new paradigm in multi-factor authentication (MFA) and stops the ransomware attacks that are devastating organizations around the globe.

Ransomware is every organization’s number one risk

Every day brings news of another major ransomware attack and the financial losses from a single attack can now exceed $1 billion. Protecting against ransomware attacks and data breaches has become the top priority of CISOs, CEOs, boards, regulators, and cyber risk insurance providers. Organizations have become easy targets for cybercriminals because most are using 20-year-old legacy MFA technology to stop cybercriminals who are using the power of generative AI and the most advanced attack methods. Next-generation MFA eliminates the risks of cybercriminals using stolen credentials, MFA prompt bombing, Sim Swapping, BYOD compromises, Adversary-in-the-Middle (AitM/MitM), and other common attack methods.

Token Ring Next-Generation MFA

Token Ring is a simple, fast, and user-friendly way to protect organizations against phishing and ransomware cyberattacks. BioTouch Secure integrates fingerprint biometrics, the most secure form of user authentication, into an attractive wearable device for the ultimate in user convenience and enterprise security. Token Ring features a capacitive fingerprint sensor for the highest level of biometric security, a large capacity secure element to safely store biometric information and user credentials, a capacitive-touch bezel for user friendly operation, and NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy communications for universal compatibility. Token Ring combines these capabilities into an appealing ring for convenience and to prevent the loss of authentication devices.

About The World Changing Ideas Awards

World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and bold concepts that make the world better. Judges choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to work on solving the problems that affect us all.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

Token today announced the new Token Ring with BioTouch Secure^tm, a simple, fast, and user friendly way to protect organizations against phishing and ransomware cyberattacks. The new Token Ring features a high-resolution 508 DPI capacitive fingerprint sensor, a large capacity secure element, a capacitive-touch bezel, and NFC and Bluetooth communications. BioTouch Secure integrates fingerprint biometrics, the most secure form of user authentication, into an attractive wearable device for convenience and to prevent the loss or theft of authentication devices. The new Token Ring will be available starting in late Q2. The company will be demonstrating the new Token Ring at RSAC 2024 in the Token Booth, NXT-1 in the Next-Stage Expo.

The Ransomware Epidemic

Losses from ransomware attacks and data breaches are reaching new highs every year and will set another record in 2024. In numerous surveys of CISOs, the threat of ransomware attacks and data breaches is reported as the greatest cybersecurity risk to the organization. This year has already witnessed the first billion-dollar-plus ransomware loss, something unthinkable just a short time ago. Organizations of all types and sizes have become attractive targets for cybercriminals because most are using 20-year-old legacy MFA technology as their primary defense. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), an operational component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reports that 90% of successful cyberattacks start with a phishing email. The easy availability of non-technical tools on the dark web, including Ransomware-as-a-Service and Fraud GPT, have democratized cyberattacks and removed the technical barrier previously limiting the number of attacks.

The Benefits of Next-Generation MFA

The sophistication of cyberattacks and the technology integrated into modern cybersecurity solutions has advanced at an incredible pace while human skills have not kept pace. User vulnerabilities are the number one risk factor. The adoption of generative AI by cybercriminals means that phishing emails are becoming increasingly difficult for even the best trained user to detect. According to Rob Joyce, the Director of Cybersecurity at the National Security Agency (NSA), cybercriminals are using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Large Language Models such as ChatGPT to make their attacks appear more legitimate to native English speakers. The advent of deep fakes compounds the risk. Organizations that rely on 20-year-old MFA technology are at significant risk of credential theft, MFA prompt bombing, BYOD compromise, Adversary-in-the-Middle (AitM/MitM), and other common attack methods. Next-generation MFA eliminates all these vulnerabilities by removing user vulnerabilities from the process.

A Market in Desperate Need of a Solution to Ransomware

First introduced in 2023, Token Ring has received a tremendous response from the market. It offers security that stops phishing and ransomware attacks, has very fast implementation, integrates easily with every IAM, SSO, and PAM solution available, and is easy for users to adopt. The growing list of organizations awaiting evaluation (Proof of Concept) rings and engaged with Token includes:

• 5 of the top 10 US financial institutions
• 3 of the top 5 consulting firms
• 3 of the top 5 US wireless providers
• 2 of the largest healthcare providers
• Major retailers, insurance providers, automakers, and businesses

Organizations have invested countless millions of dollars and innumerable hours of lost productivity training every user to be an expert at identifying phishing attacks and ways to avoid falling victim to attacks on MFA. Increasingly, these efforts are failing because outdated legacy MFA has not kept pace with modern cyberattacks.

Resources for more information about Token and Token Ring 

Token and Microsoft webcast:
Generative AI: A Game Changer for Infrastructure Security and Hacker Strategy
https://www.tokenring.com/blog/cybersecurity-generative-ai

Token and Cisco webcast:
Prioritize Your 2024 Cybersecurity To-Do List: Strategies and Insights for the Year Ahead
https://www.tokenring.com/blog/2024-cybersecurity-to-do-list

Token and Okta webcast:
The Increasing Importance of Identity Security in the Era of The Mega-Breach and Gen AI
https://www.tokenring.com/blog/2024-importance-of-identity-security

Token website: www.tokenring.com

Token, a revolutionary provider of secure, wearable authentication solutions, today announced a $30 million financing raise to support the company’s product development and strategic growth objectives.

Grand Oaks’ financing comes in the form of a $20M secured note, and a $10M convertible note, to provide financing for inventory and working capital funding to support the company’s overall growth and future product development.

Phishing and ransomware attacks continue to increase and are forecast to become more effective and damaging with the introduction of artificial intelligence. Token’s next-generation MFA solution is an easy-to-implement, passwordless, FIDO 2-compliant, biometric wearable that stops phishing attacks and data breaches. The Token smart ring is the only authentication device that solves the vulnerabilities in BYOD approaches and legacy MFA products, and has already won five industry awards for innovation and security.

In a world of stolen identities and compromised user credentials, Token is changing the way their customers secure their organizations by providing passwordless, biometric, multifactor authentication. They deliver the next generation of multifactor authentication that is invulnerable to social engineering, malware, and tampering for organizations where breaches, data loss, and ransomware must be prevented. To learn more, visit www.tokenring.com.