Case Study: Simons Foundation strengthens OpenID security and performance with Six Feet Up's Pyramid-based SpeakFriend solution

Simons Foundation modernizes OpenID with Six Feet Up, cutting performance logs to under 20 ms

The Simons Foundation, a private foundation funding research in mathematics and the basic sciences, needed to replace its outdated and insecure Java-based OpenID authentication server. They engaged Six Feet Up to architect and implement a modern solution to improve security and usability.

Six Feet Up implemented SpeakFriend, a Pyramid-based OpenID solution using Python. The new system provided a robust, user-friendly interface with advanced security features, defeating brute force attacks and automatically updating password hashes. The implementation resulted in performance logs under 20 milliseconds and now supports federated login for four independent websites.

Simons Foundation