That means you could use a Nordic chip flashed with OpenSK as a wireless security key if you like.Īs an open-source project, there are some caveats that make this more of a research project than an official alternative to manufactured security keys for board hackers. It handles all the communication channels supported by FIDO2, including not just USB but wireless ones like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and near-field communications (NFC). Google has designed the OpenSK firmware to work on a Nordic dongle, which is a small uncased board with a USB connector on it. Google hopes that by releasing an open-source version of FIDO firmware, it will accelerate broader adoption of the standard. To date, Yubikey and Google have both been popular providers of FIDO-compatible keys, but they’ve done so using their own proprietary hardware and software. This uses the digital token on your security key to log straight into a compatible online service. That works as an extra layer on top of your regular password.įIDO2 does away with passwords altogether while using a hardware key by using an authentication protocol called WebAuthn. UAF handles biometric authentication, while U2F lets people authenticate themselves using hardware keys that you can plug into a USB port or tap on a reader. There are three modern flavours of it: Universal Second Factor (U2F), Universal Authentication Factor (UAF), and FIDO2.

It’s a piece of firmware that you can install on a USB dongle of your own, turning it into a usable FIDO or U2F key.įIDO is a standard for secure online access via a browser that goes beyond passwords. Google has released an open-source implementation called OpenSK.

Interested in using hardware security keys to log into online services more securely? Well, now you can make your own from scratch, thanks to an open-source project that Google announced last week.

Google hardware security key