- FIDO Alliance’s flagship event expands its program to tackle the “New Frontiers” of passkeys and modern identity systems
- Early Bird discounts are available through July 14.
Carlsbad, Calif., July 9, 2026 – The FIDO Alliance has announced the agenda for Authenticate U.S. 2026, the only industry conference dedicated to digital identity and authentication. The event will take place October 19–21, 2026 at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, with options for virtual participation available.
The focus of the Authenticate U.S. 2026 program is “New Frontiers.” Trust and simplicity have become the defining challenges of modern identity systems, and passkeys have now proven at global scale that strong security and great usability do not have to be at odds. The next frontier is applying this principle across the entire account lifecycle, from secure account creation, to digital credentials that are recognized across services, to agentic authentication that ensures verified humans stand behind every AI agent acting on their behalf.
“Authenticate is the conference and community where you walk in with passkey questions and walk out with a deployment plan – built on real-world lessons from organizations who’ve scaled to hundreds of millions of users,” said Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director & CEO of FIDO Alliance. “But passkeys are just the starting point for FIDO’s work. This year’s agenda reflects where the ecosystem is heading next: digital credentials, payments, and authentication for trusted AI agents, not just people. If you want to see where authentication is going – not just where it’s been – then you need to be in Carlsbad this October.”
Visit https://authenticatecon.com/event/authenticate-u-s-2026/ to view the full session guide and register ahead of the July 14th Early Bird deadline.
This year’s event will showcase keynotes and sessions led by top executives and industry leaders at the forefront of the passwordless movement.
With six curated content tracks, Authenticate U.S. 2026 will offer sessions on:
- Passkeys in Practice — Leading practices, lessons learned — what went right, what didn’t — and tips and tricks that help deliver safe and successful passkey deployments.
- Commercial and Regulatory Imperatives — Business rationales and outcomes for passkeys; regulatory considerations including national, regional, and sectoral requirements; fraud detection and prevention; testing and assurance programs; higher-assurance and regulated use cases.
- Security, Standards, and Architecture in Depth — Deeper dives into the technical underpinnings that deliver usably secure account lifecycles; threat detection and response; standards development; and working group updates.
- Non-human Authentication — Approaches for protecting the extended user landscape, including mobile and other connected hardware devices, workloads and robotic processes, API protection, and AI use cases including agentic AI and MCP.
- Mobile and Digital Identity — The role that digital identity wallets and verifiable digital credentials play in securing the account lifecycle; identity proofing and biometrics; and the intersection with payments.
- New Frontiers in Identity and Authentication — Perspectives on what’s coming next in the identity and authentication space, and how to prepare.
Sponsorship Opportunities Available Authenticate U.S. 2026 offers unique sponsorship opportunities for companies to showcase solutions to an engaged, decision-making audience. With limited availability remaining, prospective sponsors can learn more and apply at authenticatecon.com/sponsors/ or contact sponsors@authenticatecon.com.
About Authenticate
Authenticate is the premier conference dedicated to advancing digital identity and authentication, with an emphasis on phishing-resistant sign-ins using passkeys. Hosted by the FIDO Alliance, this event brings together CISOs, security strategists, product managers, and identity architects to explore best practices, technical insights, and real-world case studies in modern authentication.
Authenticate is hosted by the FIDO Alliance, the cross-industry consortium providing standards, certifications, and market adoption programs to accelerate utilization of simpler, stronger authentication with innovations like passkeys. Authenticate’s signature sponsors for 2026 are Google, Mastercard, Microsoft and Yubico.
To learn more and register, visit authenticatecon.com/event/authenticate-u-s-2026/. Register now to take advantage of the Early Bird discount, available through July 14, 2026.
Authenticate Contact authenticate@fidoalliance.org
PR Contact pr@fidoalliance.org
