Through its inclusion in the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance (SIA), HID Global is recognized among leading security innovators, enabling McAfee users to leverage HID's converged solutions for logical and physical access. With HID's Crescendo smart cards and OMNIKEY brand readers, organizations can take advantage of a single card for two-factor authentication to secure data on IT networks and PCs, as well as secure physical access to facilities.

HID's Crescendo smart cards make it simple and convenient to implement pre-boot authentication and disk encryption, as offered by McAfee Endpoint Encryption for PCs, providing customers unparalleled cost savings and return on investment. When coupled with HID's OMNIKEY brand readers, Crescendo enables two-factor authentication to desktop, mobile and laptop computer applications, reducing risk and unauthorized access to sensitive data, while combining logical and physical access control into a single card solution.

"HID's Crescendo and OMNIKEY solutions are ideal for end-users looking to implement secure authentication in conjunction with data encryption and access control systems," said Brad Jarvis, vice president, product marketing, HID Global. "McAfee users that implement this integrated solution will directly benefit from reduced risk through two-factor authentication, a lower total cost of ownership for secure credentials and credential management throughout the company's entire security enterprise."

"We are delighted to recognize a range of smart cards and readers from HID Global as McAfee Compatible," said Ed Barry, senior director, McAfee Security Innovation Alliance. "By implementing products that are compatible with McAfee solutions, our customers experience faster deployment times and reduced costs. The result is greater protection, reduced risk and increased compliance."

McAfee Endpoint Encryption (formerly SafeBoot Device Encryption) includes full disk encryption to ensure security of information stored on desktops, laptops, tablets and other mobile devices. Security administrators can set a system to prompt for authentication before it even starts booting to protect against possible attacks on the operating system, or just before it is finished booting. Users must insert their HID Crescendo card and enter a passphrase or PIN before being authorized to access the system data. This procedure provides the highest levels of security that only two-factor authentication can provide.