Industry Giants Announce a Fix for the Password Mess
FIDO alliance declares the beginning of the end for old-style login authentication.
The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance has announced the final drafts of its 1.0 specifications for next-generation authentication technology. The two specifications are the Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) and Universal 2nd Factor (U2F).
The FIDO Alliance is a consortium of high-tech and online banking companies that have combined forces to solve the problem of replacing the outdated hopelessly insecure username/password paradigm for network authentication. According to FIDO, passwords play a role in up to 76% of all security breaches. The goal of the alliance is to create a universal, open standard for two-factor authentication and other strong authentication techniques that will support interoperability among software systems and network services. Alliance members include Google, Microsoft, Lenovo, Samsung, BlackBerry, and ARM Holdings, as well as credit giants such as Bank of America, MasterCard, Discover Financial Services, and PayPal.
The new specifications provide a roadmap for developing and implementing strong authentication systems. FIDO members have agreed not to enforce any patents related to technologies used in the specifications. According to FIDO president Michael Barrett, “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.”
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.