A group of major US mobile phone carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, are working on mobile authentication platform that will improve mobile security.

The Mobile Authentication Taskforce has been formed to help protect consumers and enterprises from identity theft, bank fraud, fraudulent purchases, and data theft. Their solution to improving safety in these areas is the ‘next-generation mobile authentication platform’, which would replace two-factor authentication.

The mobile authentication solution will work by delivering a cryptographically verified phone number and profile data to authorised applications with the user’s consent. This process is then backed up with other attributes such as a network verified mobile number, IP address, SIM card attributes, phone number tenure, phone account type, and more. On top of this, the taskforce promises to also include advanced analytics and machine learning within the solution t help assess risk and protect customers.

Developers will be able to submit applications through a system that uses blockchain technology to ensure application integrity. In the meantime, internal trials of the solution will begin ‘over the next few weeks’, with the aim of making the solution available by the end of the year.