Korea Personal Information Protection Association and Passwordless Alliance Launch Joint Forum
On June 27, the Passwordless Alliance Forum held its inaugural general assembly. The Korea Personal Information Protection Association serves as the forum’s secretariat, with key authentication standards developers such as the OATH Initiative and eSTORM participating as member organizations.
The Passwordless Alliance Forum was established as the Korean counterpart of the Passwordless Alliance, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This initiative is part of the ICT Standardization Forum project jointly led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Telecommunications Technology Association.
Traditional biometric-based passwordless technologies often pass the cost of purchasing sensors for each device onto consumers and face challenges in practical deployment within online services. In contrast, the ITU-T X.1280 standard enables out-of-band authentication using only a smartphone, eliminating the need for additional biometric sensors. This approach offers both cost efficiency and scalability. Its mutual authentication architecture also enhances both security and user convenience, gaining rapid recognition domestically and internationally. To promote the global adoption of X.1280 passwordless technology and establish leadership in authentication technologies, experts from industry, academia, and research sectors in Korea have launched the Passwordless Alliance Forum.
The Korea Personal Information Protection Association, which acts as the forum’s secretariat, was founded through collaboration among government, private sector, and academia during the enactment of the Personal Information Protection Act. The association has played a key role in strengthening Korea’s personal data protection ecosystem by developing self-regulation standards, expanding certification programs, and leading public awareness campaigns. Through this forum, it aims not only to promote passwordless technology adoption but also to advance data privacy infrastructure.
The forum’s membership includes international organizations such as France’s ID3 Technologies, the United States’ OATH Initiative, and Ecuador’s ESCOM, alongside Korean authentication security companies like DualAuth, eSTORM, and Twoinworks. By the end of 2025, the forum plans to release major technical documents — including UX guides, API integration manuals, and developer training materials — in both Korean and English, freely available to the public. It will also launch online training programs and seminars to accelerate technology dissemination. Additionally, led by the Korea Personal Information Protection Association, the forum aims to expand its domestic and international collaborative network by recruiting major online service providers as members.