What Is Fido

The FIDO (short for Fast IDentity Online) authentication system is designed to make authentication into websites and web services safer and easier. FIDO includes a series of targeted authentication standards that aim to strengthen the user’s access procedure to online services. Developed by the FIDO Alliance, these standards are intended to enable faster and more secure authentication and replace passwords worldwide.

The FIDO standard supports several login options, including fingerprints, facial recognition, security keys, or a local pin. This guarantees ease of use and versatility. Security and confidentiality are guaranteed by the fact that the authentication is performed locally and no login or personal information is transmitted over the Internet.

The first generation of FIDO specifications includes:

• Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) which occurs when, in addition to the password, the user must use a physical device such as a USB security key
• Universal Authentication Framework (UAF), which does not require the use of passwords but registers the UAF-enabled device with an online service by selecting a supported local authentication method (usually biometric)

The second generation of FIDO specifications is commonly referred to as FIDO 2.0 or FIDO2. FIDO2’s goal is to provide a stronger authentication system for users. FIDO2 is made up of two parts: a Javascript PAI and an extended version of the CTAP2 Client-to-Authenticator protocol. The goal is to simply and seamlessly integrate FIDO authentication into online services so as to make it ubiquitous and overcome passwords.