1. 1
WebAuthn and security keys =
unlocking the key to
authentication
John Fontana at Yubico
on Behalf of
Christiaan Brand, Product Manager, Google

2. 2
It’s no secret -
passwords aren't enough

3. 123456
Most popular password
in 2015
password
2nd most popular
password in 2015
*Verizon data breach report, 2015

4. 123456789
Most popular password
in 2018
qwerty
2nd most popular
password in 2018
*techviral.net

5. success rate for
a well designed
password phishing
page
of account vulnerabilities
were due to weak or stolen
passwords
*Verizon data breach report, 2017
43% 81%
*Google study

6. 3.3B+
credentials leaked
in dumps
67M
accounts proactively
re-secured
17%
minimum password
reuse rate
* * *
*
Source:
Data breaches, phishing, or malware? Understanding the risks of stolen
credentials (Thomas et al.) https://ai.google/research/pubs/pub46437

8. SMS usability
Coverage issues, delay,
user cost
Device usability
One per site,
expensive, fragile
User experience
Users find it hard
Phishable
OTPs are increasingly phished
?
Any second factor improves user security, but...

9. Sources of stolen passwords
Data BreachesKeyloggersPhishing

10. Hijacking likelihood*
Compared to a general active account, how much more likely it is that you will be
a victim of hijacking if we know:
*lower bound
Had a keyloggerYou were in a
breach
Were phished
>10x >40x
>500x

11. Data breach market Keyloggers Phishing kits
The wares on sale

13. Understanding victims
Signup location %
United States 50%
South Africa 4%
Canada 3%
India 3%
United Kingdom 3%
Other 37%
Sample of phished Google accounts:

14. Takeaway
Billions of passwords
available to hijackers.
Account hijackers are
professional

15. 15
At Google,
on our journey to replacing the
password, we started by making
the password safer

16. Core issue:
User is pointed
to a phishing URL
Solution: Security Key tells the server which URL the
user is pointed to.
Correct URL? Server allows login.
Phishing URL? Server blocks login.

17. 17
Based on
asymmetric
cryptography
● User’s device mints new key pair, gives
public key to server
● Server asks user’s device to sign data to
verify user
● One device, many services, “bring your
own device” enabled
Core idea - standard public key cryptography

18. challenge, “google.com”
Server
How Security Keys work
Who’s calling?
sign:
{challenge, “google.com”}
{challenge, “google.com”}signed
Alice’s Security
Key
Challenge was: 123456
Origin was: google.com Alice’s Key
https://www.google.com
USB/NFC/BLE
5
challenge
1
6
2
3
4

19. Created with open
standards
Server
USB/NFC/BLEWho’s calling?
https://www.google.com
https://www.google.com

20. Created with open
standards
Server
USB/NFC/BLEWho’s calling?
https://www.google.com
https://www.google.com
WebAuthn API
(JavaScript)

21. Created with open
standards
Server
USB/NFC/BLEWho’s calling?
https://www.google.com
https://www.google.com
WebAuthn API
CTAP API

22. 22
We made the password a lot safer with U2F, but we
want to go one step further: we want to remove the
password from the equation
That’s where FIDO2 and WebAuthn come in

23. 23
What is WebAuthn? How does it relate to FIDO2?
W3C WebAuthnFIDO CTAP
FIDO2
Client
(Computer, phone)
Built-in authenticator
(fingerprint)
Remote server
(Website)
Removable authenticator
(Phone, security key)

24. 24
WebAuthn enables
user journeys
that are:
Simple
Very intuitive and easy
for user
Secure
Resistant to phishing
WebAuthn / What is WebAuthn?

25. 25
Authentication has two core user journeys
WebAuthn / FIDO2 enables multiple use cases
01
Bootstrap
User authenticates to a service for the first time
The next slides will walk through these user journeys as a user might encounter them on the web
02
Re-authentication
User does a repeat authentication to a service

26. 26
Note that we’re inheriting
the strength of the
credentials from the initial
bootstrap
If in Step 1 we only ask the
user for a username +
password, the strength of all
the derived credentials are
only as good as a username
+ password.
If in Step 1 we ask for a
stronger credential (2nd
factor security key), all of
the derived credentials
would inherit those stronger
attributes too.

27. 27
Meet
Elisa

28. 28
Elisa wants to sign in to her bank
She starts on her mobile browser and
enrolls in fingerprint after sign-in
Registering and using built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)

29. 29
1. Registering built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)
Request
UV=true
X-Plat=false
Result
credential
(internal,caBLE)
Elisa opens launches
her mobile browser,
Chrome, and goes to
Tri-Bank

30. 30
1. Registering built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)
She signs in with her
username and
password

31. 31
1. Registering built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)
Tri-Bank shows a promo
asking Elisa if she wants to
opt in to fingerprint to sign
in
She opts in and continues to
her account

32. 32
Silently determined whether a platform authenticator was available:
PublicKeyCredential.isUserVerifyingPlatformAuthenticatorAvailable().then(response => {
if (response === true) {
//User verifying platform authenticator is available!
} else {
//User verifying platform authenticator is NOT available.
}
Created the credential on the platform authenticator
navigator.credentials.create({
"publicKey": makeCredentialOptions
});
With values for makeCredentialOptions
○ excludeCredentials = [// registered ids ]
○ authenticatorSelection.authenticatorAttachment = 'platform'
○ authenticatorSelection.userVerification = 'required'
What happened behind the scenes?
Object contains “transport” info

33. 33
● Transports is a way to indicate how authenticators can be reached
● Allowed values include
○ USB
○ NFC
○ BLE
○ Internal (corresponds to attachment=platform request type)
○ caBLE
● Transports are both returned when credentials are created, and set when requesting signatures.
● This allows the RP to
○ which use-cases are supported by the created credential
○ select the particular use-case they’re interested in (by modifying the transports)
More on transports

34. 34
Elisa comes back to Tri-Bank in
another session
2a. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)

35. 35
2a. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)
The next time Elisa
opens Tri-Bank on
mobile browser, she
gets a fingerprint
dialog
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Since the user already signed in on this device, the credential ID is encoded in the cookie and the
RP requests the “internal” transport only (since they don’t want the user to see prompts about
external authenticators).

36. 36
2a. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (mobile web)
Using only her fingerprint,
she’s
able to sign in
without using her
username + password on
mobile web
Request
credentialId
(internal)

37. 37
Created a signature using the platform authenticator
navigator.credentials.get({
"publicKey": requestOptions
});
With values for requestOptions
○ allowCredentials = [// credential associated with session and transport=internal ]
○ userVerification = true
What happened behind the scenes?

38. 38
Elisa downloads Tri-Bank
from the Play Store
She launches the app for the first time to
sign in to check her funds
2b. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (native mobile app)

39. 39
Request
UV=true
X-Plat=false
Result
credential
(internal,caBLE)
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request
(Alternative)
{empty
credentialId}
Will result in prompt
to insert removable
SK
2b. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (native mobile app)
She installs Tri-Bank
from Google Play
Store and opens the
app

40. 40
2b. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (native mobile app)
Elisa chooses
“Sign In” and also
chooses an account
Request
credentialId
(internal)

41. 41
Elisa is now asked to
authenticate with the
fingerprint dialog
2b. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth (native mobile app)

42. 42
Created a signature using the platform authenticator
navigator.credentials.get({
"publicKey": requestOptions
});
With values for requestOptions
○ allowCredentials = [// empty set ]
○ userVerification = true
What happened behind the scenes?

43. 43
Elisa wants to sign in to
her bank on her desktop
computer and sign-in to
Tri-Bank without a
password
3. Cross-platform bootstrap
This is the part that is not released yet

44. 44
Elisa chooses to sign
in on her desktop
browser
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

45. 45
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
Elisa enters her
account username
and chooses to
proceed “next”
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

46. 46
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
She’s asked to verify the
new device using her
Pixel 2 phone’s
fingerprint that she’s
been using to sign in
to Tri-Bank
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

47. 47
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
Because Elisa has a
Macbook with Touch ID,
Tri-bank asks her if she
wants to use local
fingerprint on the device
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

48. 48
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
Elisa gets prompted
to
try using the
local fingerprint
on the device
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

49. 49
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
She opts-in and
continues to her
account
3. Cross-platform bootstrap

50. 50
When Elisa comes back to Tri-Bank on
the Macbook Pro
This is the part that is not released yet

51. 51
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
4. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth
Elisa comes back to
sign in on her desktop
browser

52. 52
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
4. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth
A fingerprint
dialog appears above
the sign-in page and
Elisa touches the
sensor

53. 53
Request
credentialId
(internal)
Request (Alternative)
{empty credentialId}
Will result in prompt to insert removable SK
4. Using built-in authenticator for re-auth
Elisa’s identity is
accepted and she’s
signed in

54. 54
How can I
get started?
Desktop/laptop
● WebAuthn support was
launched in Chrome 67.
● Chrome 70 adds support
for platform credentials
on Mac OS X.
Android
● FIDO2 APIs on Android are
available in pre-release
mode.
● Support for FIDO2 on the
web (built-in fingerprint
sensor) enabled in
Chrome 70.
Visit webauthndemo.appspot.com to try it out

55. 55
CTAP2 &
WEB AUTHN
UPDATE

56. 56
Questions?

57. 57
That’s a wrap