Facebook Bringing Single Sign-On (SSO) for Mobile – No Passwords Needed (Ever)

Facebook is holding its mobile event today and Mark Zuckerberg came right out of the gates talking single sign-on (SSO). You’re probably already familiar with the feature if you use Facebook login anywhere on the web. You can go to different blogs, web applications and other sites that require signing in and you’ll notice that you can log in with your Facebook account. It even goes one step further and you’ll see on many sites that you’re already logged in with Facebook and you can comment or perform certain actions with your account.

Now you’ll be able to do that with mobile devices as well. If you’re logged into your Facebook app on the iPhone or Android, for example, you’ll also see yourself logged on in separate apps like Groupon. All it takes is a single touch event and you’re logged into the other third party app. Pretty soon you’ll be able to log into all your favorite apps and services to comment, write reviews, check in and more just by being logged into your Facebook application.

Here are some benefits of single sign-on according to Facebook:

• Reduces phishing success, because users are not trained to enter password everywhere without thinking.
• Reducing password fatigue from different user name and password combinations
• Reducing time spent re-entering passwords for the same identity
• Can support conventional authentication such as Windows credentials (i.e., username/password)
• Reducing IT costs due to lower number of IT help desk calls about passwords
• Security on all levels of entry/exit/access to systems without the inconvenience of re-prompting users
• Centralized reporting for compliance adherence.

The benefit is definitely initially noticeable with “password fatigue,” where you’re constantly having to re-enter your e-mail and password everywhere you need to be logged on.

“It’s all muscle memory and users don’t actually memorize a long string of characters,” Zuckerberg said regarding password fatigue.

Pretty good stuff coming out of Facebook here with the social network continuously expanding its presence in the mobile space.