At RSAC Conference 2026, Swissbit is showcasing a single hardware security key that unifies phishing-resistant digital login and physical door access -- with post-quantum cryptography already in development. Alexander Summerer, Head of Authentication at Swissbit, explains why hardware-rooted identity security is the answer enterprises have been waiting for.
Most enterprise authentication today is still built on passwords or one-time codes -- and neither is phishing-resistant. Alexander Summerer explains that fraud remains the core challenge: attackers intercept credentials in the online channel, and users are burdened with complex password policies that slow them down without making them safer. Swissbit's answer is the iShield Key, a FIDO2-based hardware security key that is plug and play. No passwords to remember, no codes to intercept, and no chance for a phishing attack to succeed.
What sets Swissbit apart at RSAC Conference 2026 is convergence. The same iShield Key that authenticates a user at their workstation can also open a door. Tap it on an HID reader in a healthcare facility, a university, or a manufacturing plant, and access is granted -- physical and digital, in one device. Swissbit is the only vendor on the market today offering this combination, with HID Seos support now available and a global partner network ready to deploy at scale.
The forward story is post-quantum cryptography. Alexander Summerer notes that quantum computing poses a real and coming threat to standard authentication algorithms. Swissbit is already previewing a PQC evaluation platform at booth 6565 -- a device that runs a post-quantum chip alongside the traditional chip. Organizations can upgrade to PQC-protected authentication with the same hardware, keeping legacy use cases running without disruption.
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GUEST
Alexander Summerer, Head of Authentication, Swissbit
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-summerer
RESOURCES
Swissbit: https://www.swissbit.com
iShield Key product page: https://www.swissbit.com/en/products/security-products/ishield-key/
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KEYWORDS
Alexander Summerer, Swissbit, Sean Martin, RSAC Conference 2026, hardware security key, FIDO2, phishing-resistant authentication, passwordless authentication, physical access control, post-quantum cryptography, PQC, iShield Key, HID Seos, enterprise authentication, zero trust, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand highlight
One Key to Rule Them All: Physical Access, Digital Login, and Post-Quantum Security | A Brand Highlight at RSAC Conference 2026 with Alexander Summerer, Head of Authentication at Swissbit
[00:00:10] Sean Martin: Here we are. Alex, how are you?
[00:00:12] Alexander Summerer: Very well, thank you.
[00:00:13] Sean Martin: Very good. We are at RSAC Conference. The booth is packed. Everybody's getting their storage keys here from you. We're at the Swissbit booth. Thank you. And tell us a little bit about who you are and how you decided to get this company going.
[00:00:29] Alexander Summerer: Absolutely. So my name is Alexander Summerer. I am the Head of Authentication within Swissbit. And we run a storage business and security business, and we are a hardware manufacturer and develop these products ourselves. Innovation is our main feature. So we have quite a number of innovations in our portfolio, and this is what we want to showcase today at the RSAC Conference, which is a very important conference for us. We've met a lot of clients here, partners, and we are very happy today to be at the RSAC Conference with you.
[00:01:05] Sean Martin: Perfect. Well, I'm happy to have you as well. So give me the overview of the company and then we'll dive into some of the new things that you're bringing to light here today.
[00:01:13] Alexander Summerer: Absolutely. So we are now 25 years in the business. We started with storage device products. We have industrial memory devices for airplanes, cars, and we build these at high quality in the industrial grade. And 10 years ago we started with our security business, which is primarily about FIDO security keys and hardware security devices that we've built in, including cashier systems. Here at the RSAC Conference, we primarily offer our FIDO security keys -- the iShield Key -- which is one of the most innovative products in the space of authentication today.
[00:01:53] Sean Martin: Got it. So what are some of the challenges? I presume you sell primarily in the enterprise and B2B space?
[00:02:01] Alexander Summerer: Yes, absolutely.
[00:02:02] Sean Martin: What are some of the big challenges that they face with respect to authentication?
[00:02:06] Alexander Summerer: Simply, it's fraud. There are so many attacks going on now, and companies are getting attacked by threat actors. We try to bring a solution to the market that really hinders these attacks -- through a hardware security key, security at the highest level -- and try to simplify the processes with our product so that customers are satisfied on both usability and security, so that attackers don't have any chance to attack the companies.
[00:02:41] Sean Martin: So it's all about the experience -- making it super difficult for the attacker, the bad actor, and super easy for the end user. Give me some examples of fraud and other attacks that organizations face that Swissbit solutions can handle, and where other offerings get in the way rather than clearing the deck for a user to succeed with their tasks.
[00:03:04] Alexander Summerer: Absolutely. Most login processes are either password-based or one-time password-based, and these are not phishing-resistant. What we've actually built here are products that are phishing-resistant. They use FIDO as a protocol, which is a widely adopted standard now in the market -- many servers support it already. And our FIDO key is plug and play. So this is the usability advantage: users can easily log in with the device. They don't have to remember any passwords anymore. And it's very secure because it's phishing-resistant. A hacker cannot phish any passwords or one-time passwords in the online channel.
[00:03:44] Sean Martin: Because it's a physical device.
[00:03:45] Alexander Summerer: Physical device. Yes.
[00:03:46] Sean Martin: So how do you bring your solution to the business? Who do you usually speak to, and is there an event or an activity where they say, yes, Alex, we really need your help?
[00:03:59] Alexander Summerer: Yeah, so basically we work with partners, distributors, and resellers to support end customers with deployments. We have partner networks across the globe that engage with end customers. And if a customer needs an enrollment with FIDO Keys, we engage with our system integrators and resellers to provide these keys. Whether it's somewhere in APAC, the Middle East, or Europe, we can handle this through our partner network and supply very quickly through our supply chain.
[00:04:35] Sean Martin: Give me some examples of customer success stories -- use cases where they worked with you and your team, maybe through a partnership or a distributor, and accomplished something they weren't able to do otherwise.
[00:04:51] Alexander Summerer: Yes. We have a number of customers already using this in combination with a very important use case: physical access -- being able to open doors and gates -- which is quite common in an enterprise environment. So what we do: we have a FIDO key. A FIDO key today is used to log in on computers and for online security. But the same key can be used for physical access. And this combination makes it really compelling for enterprises trying to secure all their processes, including physical access. We are the first vendor on the market providing this combination of physical and logical access in one device -- just tap the key on the door and the door opens. We already have quite a number of customers using this on a daily basis for various use cases. Primarily we're talking about universities, healthcare environments, and manufacturing environments. They have both use cases, and Swissbit is the only provider today that can solve both with this kind of hardware security key.
[00:05:54] Sean Martin: And you integrate with whatever access control system they have, be it physical or digital?
[00:06:01] Alexander Summerer: So we partner with HID, which is a quite large brand especially in the US. A good portion of facilities support HID readers. We are the first vendor in the market coming up with a key that supports HID Seos. And this is quite, you know, leveraging a lot of use cases. Beside HID, we also support other standards like MIFARE. We are an NXP partner, an HID partner, and we also partner with many OEM reader manufacturers. This is enabling our portfolio quite heavily.
[00:06:38] Sean Martin: So it's a plug key for systems and a tap for buildings -- and possibly even some medical devices; some of them you can tap as well?
[00:06:47] Alexander Summerer: Yes. Tap and go.
[00:06:50] Sean Martin: Here at the conference, a lot of different people -- practitioners, security leaders, CISOs. A message to folks who may not have heard of Swissbit yet, and a call to action for them to connect with you and your team.
[00:07:08] Alexander Summerer: Absolutely. You may have heard about PQC -- post-quantum cryptography. It is a time race: by when will the standard algorithms be compromised by post-quantum computers? Swissbit has the first post-quantum secure FIDO security key. We have samples here at the booth that implement a PQC chip alongside the standard chip. So we can support PQC already. We have implemented FIDO on it. So if you have a PQC-enabled FIDO server, you can use our FIDO key right away, plug and play. And the same device supports the classical chip too -- so it still supports all the use cases like physical access and all applications that rely on existing standards. This combination is really unique. Swissbit is the only company supporting this, so you can upgrade to PQC with the very same device and still support the legacy.
[00:08:09] Sean Martin: Okay. Please, if you would like to see it, join us at the RSAC Conference booth.
[00:08:16] Alexander Summerer: Booth 6565.
[00:08:17] Sean Martin: 6565. Perfect. Give me -- we'll close with this -- give me the scenario of what that transition looks like when crypto is compromised by quantum. With your key, what happens? Is it seamless, or what do they have to do?
[00:08:35] Alexander Summerer: If you don't have a post-quantum secure crypto processor, there's a chance that the challenge-response protocol typically used in authentication can be compromised. With a key supporting PQC, you can mitigate this risk quite heavily. If you don't have PQC, there's always a risk. So you have to upgrade to devices with such chips. But if you have the PQC chip, the process is still the same -- the algorithm is different, but it's post-quantum secure.
[00:09:15] Sean Martin: We may as well get ahead of that curve -- that's what I'm hearing. Perfect. Well, Alex, it's a pleasure to meet you. Good to see you here in San Francisco. Wishing you great success. If you're here at the conference, be sure to check out the keys and connect with Alexander and the Swissbit team. Thanks everybody. Thanks, Alex.
[00:09:35] Alexander Summerer: Thank you so much.