Facebook is embracing FIDO-compliant two-factor authentication with devices like YubiKeys, with Facebook security engineer Brad Hill calling it a way “to make logging into Facebook even more secure.”
Effective today, users can register their 2FA devices to ensure that their account login process adheres to FIDO U2F standards, with Facebook prompting such users to tap their USB or NFC devices in order to authenticate when logging in. The feature is available to users of the Chrome and Opera web browsers, and while the Facebook app doesn’t yet support 2FA, users of the mobile site can use NFC 2FA keys for extra security.
Commenting on the move, FIDO Alliance executive director Brett McDowell called it “a major milestone in the growth of the FIDO ecosystem”, with Facebook making FIDO-compliant authentication “available to its billions of users.”
Facebook’s embrace of 2FA security comes soon after the conclusion of a two-year Google study that lauded such security mechanisms, with Google having proceeded to encourage its Adwords partners to employ 2FA in their accounts.
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January 26, 2017 – by Alex Perala
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