[Leading Cybersecurity Company] OCTATCO Urges Use of FIDO2 to Eliminate Hacking Concerns

• CEO Lee Jaehyoung: “Unlike traditional biometric authentication, where biometric data is sent to servers, our solution processes data locally on a secure hardware key” 

“I never use public Wi-Fi wherever I go. If you connect to Wi-Fi, a hacker can easily find your IDs and passwords. They plant malware on the Wi-Fi, and when you log in, they can steal everything. I once used Wi-Fi at a hotel in China and immediately received a ‘duplicate login’ notification.” 

Lee Jaehyung, CEO of OCTATCO, shared this story in a recent interview with ZDNet Korea at the company’s headquarters in Seongnam, South Korea. 

OCTATCO specializes in FIDO (Fast IDentity Online), a global standard for online authentication. The company helps users access their accounts safely and securely. “OCTATCO is the only company in the world that develops both authentication software and hardware,” Lee emphasized. 

OCTATCO’s Fingerprint Security Keys feature a dedicated “secure area” for storing personal data. “While conventional biometric systems recognize fingerprints, irises, or faces and store that information on a server, our solution stores it locally, on the Security Key, never on a server,” he explained. Major global companies, including Samsung Electronics, use OCTATCO’s security keys. 

When asked whether FIDO could still be compromised, Lee replied, “FIDO2, an advanced standardized technology, has never been hacked.” He added, "Traditional biometric methods are vulnerable; hackers zoom in on photos to replicate fingerprints or facial features.” 

Even if a company using FIDO2 is hacked, user data remains safe, Lee said, because personal information is stored only in the secure area of the user’s device. “FIDO2 verifies multiple identity attributes, offering strong protection against identity theft attacks that bypass SMS or OTP-based two-factor authentication,” he added. 

OCTATCO has also developed a Quantum Cryptography Security Key. “It’s the world’s only quantum FIDO Security Key officially certified by the FIDO Alliance,” Lee said. The FIDO Alliance is a global consortium of over 280 member organizations, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Amazon, Meta, and Samsung. “We joined the FIDO Alliance right after founding OCTATCO in April 2016 because we shared the belief that traditional authentication systems cannot support safe AI usage. In 2023, I was honored with a FIDO Alliance award for our contributions to spreading the technology,” he said. 

Lee identified two fundamental flaws in password-based security, which inspired OCTATCO’s passwordless solutions. “First, a secret is no longer a secret when two parties know it. For example, if either I or a service like Naver (Korean's Google equivalent) is breached, both sides are compromised,” he explained. “Second, centralized servers are a problem. When SK Telecom (Korea's largest telecom company) was hacked, personal information of 25 million users was leaked.” 

“Even mixing uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters doesn’t change the inherent vulnerability of passwords. It’s just a matter of time before they’re cracked,” he added. “People tend to reuse passwords or write them down somewhere because they’re hard to remember. Even if OTP or SMS authentication is used, hackers can plant malware in advance and intercept the codes.” 

OCTATCO has ambitions to become a global cybersecurity leader. Of its 30 employees, 4 (15%) are international hires, and the company plans to raise that to 30–40%. “We don't intend to stay just a Korean company. We aim to be a global tech leader headquartered in Korea,” said Lee. He asked, “Why settle for the 2% share Korea has in the global cybersecurity market, when we can aim for the other 98%?” 

The company’s performance backs this confidence. “In 2024, we doubled our sales compared to 2023, and we expect to maintain that level of growth for the next five years,” Lee noted. Profitability has already been achieved. 

OCTATCO is also preparing for a potential IPO between 2027 and 2028, considering markets such as NASDAQ in the US, KOSDAQ in Korea, Singapore, and Japan. 

CEO Lee Jaehyoung’s Profile 
- Born in 1976 
- Bachelor’s degree in International Business, Chungnam National University 
- Master’s degree in AI Convergence Engineering, Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies 
- Vice President for External Affairs, Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology 

By Hye Jin Yoo, langchemist@zdnet.co.kr 

[Read the original Korean article here]