Since 2008, GitHub has grown into one of the largest developer communities in the world. With more than 11 million users working on more than 27 million projects, GitHub supports and encourages security measures — such as two-factor and the emerging open authentication standard, Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) — that keep accounts safe.

Today, GitHub announced U2F support enabling its users to access and protect the integrity of their software code with easy-to-use strong public key cryptography. GitHub’s volume of sensitive data demands proactive efforts to constantly improve security and access controls. Strong authentication, like that provided by U2F, helps protect against modern hacker techniques used in the current breach-filled world.

The YubiKey is a hardware device that implements U2F and works with a simple touch to trigger U2F’s public/private key exchange. The YubiKey simply plugs into a USB port to begin the process of securely authenticating the user.

As co-creators of the FIDO U2F protocol, we are thrilled to help GitHub put U2F-compliant YubiKey devices in the hands of developers currently creating services used by everyone on the internet. After taking a look at the open-source examples of U2F implementations, GitHub was able to build comprehensive support in a short time, taking advantage of the open-source community around U2F that Yubico has nurtured.

On the heels of U2F support added by Google and Dropbox, GitHub — committed to adopting standards-based technology — is stepping up as a strong U2F advocate. The company aims to set an example and help put the ‘U’ in Universal 2nd Factor by making U2F available for every GitHub user, including every GitHub employee. GitHub also plans to push leaders in technology and other industries to support U2F’s ease-of-use along with its promise of better security and privacy.

We are proud to be associated with GitHub and its ecosystem, and we join them in pushing developers, companies, and industries to take action now and put simple, scalable public key cryptography in the hands of millions of internet users.

To the GitHub community, we hope you enjoy your YubiKey!  

(Attn: GitHub users — For a limited time, you are now eligible for a 20% discount.)

GitHub Supports Universal 2nd Factor Authentication from Yubico on Vimeo.

Also see:

• Register for our webinar, “Integrating U2F: From Concept to Implementation,” Oct 27, 2015 8-9 AM PDT
• Learn more about YubiKey, GitHub, and U2F
• View the video recording of the GitHub Universe session “FIDO U2F: The next step in the evolution of account security”
• Find developer resources and libraries