Great news for developers, GitHub now supports security keys and biometric options for authentication
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If you are a regular GitHub user, you must be aware of the fact that account security is critical. Passwords are simply not enough to protect online accounts. In order improve the security of GitHub accounts, GitHub yesterday announced easy-to-use authentication options through support for Web Authentication (WebAuthn) standard.
With WebAuthn support, you can now use physical security keys for two-factor authentication on GitHub. If you don’t have physical security key, you can also use your laptop or phone as a security key. You can now use physical security keys on GitHub with:
- Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android: Firefox and Chrome-based browsers
- Windows: Edge
- macOS: Safari, currently in Technology Preview but coming soon to everyone
- iOS: Brave, using the new YubiKey 5Ci
You can also use the following browsers and biometric options:
- Microsoft Edge on Windows, using Windows Hello (with facial recognition, fingerprint reader, or PIN)
- Chrome on macOS, using Touch ID
- Chrome on Android, using fingerprint reader
Since platform support is not yet ubiquitous, GitHub currently supports security keys as a supplemental second factor. In the future, GitHub will make security keys as a primary second factor.
Source: GitHub
