UN’s ICT Agency Recognizes FIDO Standards

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has adopted two updated specifications from the FIDO Alliance as international standards for online authentication. The specifications, FIDO UAF 1.1 and FIDO U2F 1.2, are part of the FIDO suite of standards that enable simpler and stronger user authentication across websites and mobile applications.

FIDO UAF 1.1 is an update to the Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) that allows users to authenticate with biometrics or other local factors instead of passwords. FIDO U2F 1.2 is an update to the Universal Second Factor (U2F) that enables users to authenticate with an external device such as a security key or a smartphone. Both specifications are based on public key cryptography and provide phishing-resistant security.

The adoption of these specifications by ITU, a United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, is a significant milestone for the FIDO Alliance, an open industry association launched in 2013 with the mission to develop and promote authentication standards that help reduce the world’s over-reliance on passwords. The FIDO Alliance has over 250 members, including leading technology companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Amazon.

Lately, FIDO has been tracking the growing adoption of the passkey, an innovative online authentication tool that was collaboratively developed by tech giants Apple, Google, and Microsoft in partnership with FIDO and the World Wide Web Consortium. Recent survey data found about 57 percent of US consumers interested in using passkeys instead of passwords, marking a considerable uptick in excitement in the months since FIDO’s previous survey released last October.

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June 20 – by The FindBiometrics Editorial Team