Overview#

Universal Second Factor Challenges

Support for Universal Second Factor Challenges#

There is limited Website or other on-line server support for Universal Second Factor Challenges.

Universal Second Factor Security Keys are supported by Google Chrome since version 40 and Opera since version 40. Universal Second Factor security keys can be used as an additional method of two-step verification on online services that support the U2F protocol, including

• Google
• Dropbox
• GitHub
• GitLab
• Bitbucket
• Nextcloud
• Facebook

However, several of these only support is currently only available for the Chrome browser. Universal Second Factor Challenges is not widely supported in general.[3]

Universal Second Factor and Credential Enrollment#

The typical user will not be able or willing to perform Credential Enrollment using Universal Second Factor. The process involves several steps and the steps are not something the typical user would perform. Some of these include:

• Enrollment of the Universal Second Factor device.
• Fears about loss or unavailability of the Universal Second Factor device.
• Backup Codes

Backup Codes#

When using any Authentication Factors there need to be a Credential Management method. What we have experienced with Universal Second Factor has been:

• Use an different Authentication Factor to obtain access to the account. So often you have a One-Time Password System as an Authentication Factor
• A set of one-time backup authentication codes

The issues with the a set of one-time backup authentication codes is that either the person is unwilling or unable to save the codes in a Secure location or they are unable to obtain access or find them when needed. To store them in a secure place, requires some tool similar to a Password Management Application, which is the kind of thing we are trying to eliminate.

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• Universal Second Factor

---

• [#1] - Universal_2nd_Factor - based on information obtained 2017-04-02
• [#2] - Smart Card Technology and the FIDO Protocols - based on information obtained 2016-05-21
• [#2] - USB-Dongle Authentication - based on information obtained 2017-03-21