The FIDO Alliance has published final 1.0 drafts of its Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) and Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) specification.
According to a press release “both specifications are unencumbered by FIDO member patents.”
The specifications, developed in response to “risk and loss perpetuated by prevailing password systems,” offer “open, scalable and interoperable” strong authentication mechanism that move away from the current reliance on single factor username and password login.
“Today, we celebrate an achievement that will define the point at which the old world order of passwords and PINs started to wither and die,” said Michael Barrett, president of the FIDO Alliance in the release. “FIDO Alliance pioneers can forever lay claim to ushering in the ‘post password' era, which is already revealing new dimensions in Internet services and digital commerce.”
The specifications apply to devices, servers and client software.