Yubico CEO to EU: Open Standards Nurture Trust

Trust has to be a cornerstone in order to protect the online identities of 500 million people doing business across borders, Yubico’s CEO and Founder, Stina Ehrensvard, told an exclusive crowd of 500 EU digital policy makers and industry representatives last week at Digital Assembly 2015 in Riga, Latvia.

She held up a single YubiKey and told the audience how its support of “new open internet security standards can help us to reinforce the trust for our internet. “

A who’s who of invited guests from across the EU were gathered at the request of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to attend workshops and hear from six hand-picked inspirational speakers.

The Council of the European Union is an essential decision-making body that works together with the European Parliament to adopt legislation and coordinate EU policies.

The Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe, published by the European Commission early last month, framed the proceedings. The strategy aims to open up digital opportunities for people and business and enhance Europe’s position as a world leader in the digital economy.

Yubico’s Ehrensvard was the first inspirational speaker to take the stage (video below). She led the audience back fifty plus years to the invention of the three-point seat belt by her Swedish countryman Nils Bohlin, highlighting that its success was based on simplicity, unobtrusiveness and one-handed ease-of-use. It went on to become an open, global standard.

Fast-forward to today’s digital world, where she applied the same trio of traits to the YubiKey (although ease of use is accomplished with just one finger). She highlighted the weaknesses of other technologies: smart cards (complex), OTP devices (single purpose) and phones (vulnerable to attack).

She said standards are essential such as the FIDO Alliance’s Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) protocol for strong authentication, which is supported in Yubico’s YubiKey.  This emerging standard provides a way to share an authentication device across multiple services while maintaining respect for privacy, she said.

Her vision of the near future included the ability for anyone to buy a secure online identity based on U2F at a local convenience store from the same rack where the gift cards hang. Banks, governments, email sites, and healthcare organizations are among providers who would honor the secure identity.

She told the audience, “to realize the vision of a digital single market, the cornerstone is that we can trust the Internet.”

See the full talk below.

*Image courtesy of EU2015.LV

Talk to our teamTalk to our team

Share this article:


  • Navigating the PCI DSS 4.0 transition and meeting compliance with phishing-resistant YubiKeysIn just a few days, on March 31, 2025, decision makers in industries that involve payment processing – including financial services, retail & hospitality and telecommunications – are tasked to finalize the transition to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 4.0. This deadline marks a critical juncture for all organizations handling payment card […]Read moreNISTPCI DSSPCI DSS 4.0
  • Building cyber resilience with Yubico and MicrosoftIn today’s digital landscape, cyber threats are evolving at an unprecedented pace: every second, a phishing attack takes place. In fact, over 80% of these attacks are the result of stolen login credentials and almost 70% of phishing attacks relied on AI last year alone. Recent data from Microsoft Entra also reveals a staggering increase […]Read moreMFA mandatesMicrosoft
  • Yubico’s commitment to innovation: Phishing-resistance as a cornerstone for cyber resilienceAs phishing attacks have reached an unprecedented level of frequency and sophistication, enterprises must prioritize authentication that is phishing-resistant – regardless of the business scenario, platform or device users are working with. This is why Yubico prioritizes consistent product innovations that deliver on our customer’s needs for modern, phishing-resistant authentication solutions that enable businesses to […]Read more
  • CEO Corner: Wrapping up a strong year, and looking ahead to 2025 and beyondIt’s no secret that 2024 was a big year of growth for Yubico, highlighted across many notable achievements by our team and increasing demand from our customers. As discussed in my previous post, following a transformative year driven by key cybersecurity trends like passkeys and AI, the year culminated in the significant step of Yubico […]Read moreCEOEarningsMattias Danielsson