What is FIDO U2F?

U2F is an open authentication standard that enables internet users to securely access any number of online services with one single security key instantly and with no drivers or client software needed.

hand inserting YubiKey 5Ci into port on laptop

Where did U2F come from?

FIDO U2F was created by Google and Yubico, and support from NXP, with the vision to take strong public key crypto to the mass market. Today, the technical specifications are hosted by the open-authentication industry consortium known as the FIDO Alliance. U2F has been successfully deployed by large scale services, including Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, GitHub, and many more. The next evolution of the FIDO U2F modern authentication protocol is FIDO2 which introduces passwordless authentication capabilities.

Click here for a list of featured services that use FIDO U2F.

Check out FIDO2 for the latest generation of the U2F protocol.

How it works – 3 options, 2 simple steps to authentication

Origin binding: defense against phishing

With the U2F-enabled Security Key, such as the YubiKey, user login is bound to the origin, meaning that only the real site can authenticate with the key. The authentication will fail on the fake site even if the user was fooled into thinking it was real. This greatly mitigates against the increasing volume and sophistication of phishing attacks and stops account takeovers.