Secure access to online applications and services has evolved into a framework reliant on devices, public-key cryptography, and biometrics to replace the shared secrets of aging passwords. Since 2013, the FIDO Alliance has developed open and scalable advancements to eliminate phishing and other security attacks. To introduce these improvements and to educate employees throughout corporate management and IT security, the FIDO Alliance has established a series of best practices and how-to white papers that align the Alliance’s goals with the responsibilities and titles of technology professionals. This work is dedicated to eliminating passwords and securing the simple act of logging on within the enterprise.

This white paper is intended for IT administrators and enterprise security architects who are considering deploying FIDO Authenticators across their enterprises and defining life cycle management policies. In this paper, we provide an overview of the different use cases for multi-factor authentication and the FIDO Authenticator choices administrators have. The intent is to help and guide administrators in choosing the right authenticator types for their specific environment.