Subject: [pkix] U2F - Universal Two Factor Authentication

From: Anders Rundgren <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 07:46:36 +0100

http://fidoalliance.org/specifications/download

FIDO/Google have now released their long-awaited token solution.

The smart card industry have finally gotten a worthy competitor who have launched the first web-enabled [sort of] smart card ever.

Standards connoisseurs will note that FIDO/Google did no efforts reusing existing smart card technology.
ISO 7816 is only used as a "bit-pipe" and the token commands quite high-level.

Unlike for example PKIX enrollment protocols, key container attestations is a mandatory feature.

The following lines from one of the very well-written specifications are also noteworthy:
http://fidoalliance.org/specs/fido-u2f-application-isolation-through-facet-identification-v1.0-rd-20140209.pdf

  "Windows and Mac OS are in the process of being able to isolate and identify applications
   similar to mobile operating systems. Until such mechanisms become available, we
   can provide best-effort app identification (but obviously with much lower reliability)."

Google have taken things to a new level which other token vendors can only dream about.

Anders