New FIDO2-Compliant USB Key Features Fingerprint Sensor

“The new authentication standard’s WebAuthn component is designed to enable hardware key and biometric authentication within major web browsers […] and thus by incorporating a fingerprint sensor into a USB key, the eFA500 combines both authentication approaches allowing for extra-secure browser-based authentication.”

Fabless SoC maker eWBM has announced a new USB key designed to support the just-announced FIDO2 and WebAuthn standards. Called the eFA500, the USB key is based on eWBM’s MS500, a system-on-chip offering “hardwired crypto engines, secure storage and secure boot structures,” according to a statement from the company.

It’s a small device, designed to plug into a computer or laptop’s USB port like any other regular USB key. But it features an embedded fingerprint sensor, allowing for biometric authentication – a step above the already strong second-factor authentication enabled by a hardware key.

The device thus offers special functionality with respect to FIDO2. The new authentication standard’s WebAuthn component is designed to enable hardware key and biometric authentication within major web browsers – Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge – and thus by incorporating a fingerprint sensor into a USB key, the eFA500 combines both authentication approaches allowing for extra-secure browser-based authentication.

It’s the second major USB key supporting FIDO2 since the standard was announced earlier this week, after the launch of the $20 Security Key by Yubico. eWBM hasn’t yet revealed the price or availability of its solution, but the company will showcase its solution at next week’s RSA 2018 conference in San Francisco.