Aflac wins 2024 CSO award for innovative security project

Transmit Security has announced that Aflac has received the 2024 CSO Award for its "Quackcess Granted" Passkey Authentication Initiative, powered by the Mosaic platform.

The award recognises Aflac, a major provider of supplemental health insurance in the United States, for its achievements in enhancing security measures and customer engagement through state-of-the-art authentication solutions.

"The stakes grow higher every day for security leaders and their teams, and this year's CSO Awards honour the very best efforts to tackle challenges from an expanding threat landscape," said Beth Kormanik, Content Director for the CSO Conference & Awards.

The "Quackcess Granted" initiative exemplifies the strategic collaboration between Aflac and Transmit Security. Aflac has utilised Mosaic by Transmit Security to leverage advanced passkey security, ensuring seamless customer experiences without compromising on security.

"We are honoured to receive this recognition from CSO for the 'Quackcess Granted' initiative," said Tim Callahan, Senior Vice President, Global Chief Information Security Officer at Aflac. "This project has transformed how our customers engage with us, making secure access seamless and frustration-free. With the support of Transmit Security, we've delivered a modern, industry-standard experience that benefits both our customers and our business."

Aflac's approach to secure authentication through passkeys has resulted in a 96% login success rate, with 265,000 policyholders enrolling in the system, far exceeding initial targets. This success has reduced customer support requests and operational costs significantly.

The CSO Awards highlight projects that successfully combine innovative technology with measurable business impacts, with Aflac's initiative being praised for effectively addressing cybersecurity challenges whilst enhancing customer satisfaction.

Andrew Shikiar, CEO of the FIDO Alliance, commented, "Passkeys are the inevitable replacement for passwords - they're already enabling stronger and simpler authentication across billions of user accounts today. This award and partnership between Aflac and Transmit Security is a great example of how organisations can realise the great business benefits of passkeys - reduced phishing and credential theft risks while enhancing the customer experience with faster, more reliable sign-ins - without great technical lift or burden."

Mosaic by Transmit Security empowers businesses to offer biometric authentication such as fingerprint and facial recognition across various devices, facilitating seamless login experiences for Aflac's customers.

David Mahdi, Chief Identity Officer at Transmit Security, said, "We are excited to be part of Aflac's success with the 'Quackcess Granted' project. Passkeys are revolutionising digital authentication, and Mosaic ensures that companies like Aflac can seamlessly adopt this technology to enhance security without adding complexity."

The collaboration between Aflac and Transmit Security demonstrates how strategic alignment can deliver tangible outcomes, ensuring customers receive consistent, secure service without the need for complex passwords or outdated multi-factor authentication methods.

Richard Metcalfe, Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Transmit Security, noted, "With 69% of data breaches in the Asia-Pacific region caused by credential stuffing and 98% involving external threat actors, the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report makes it clear that password-based security is no longer adequate to protect organisations from account takeovers and other serious threats. Aflac's successful adoption of phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication shows where the industry needs to move to effectively combat data breaches and protect critical information assets."