Case Study: GitHub achieves global U2F authentication for 11 million developers with Yubico

GitHub and Yubico pioneer U2F authentication globally

GitHub, a developer platform founded in 2008 with more than 11 million users and nearly 27 million projects, needed stronger two‑factor authentication to protect sensitive code and defend against phishing and man‑in‑the‑middle attacks. Earlier SMS and TOTP options were unreliable and insufficient, so GitHub set out to adopt the U2F standard and make hardware-backed keys available to employees and its global developer community.

Working with Yubico, GitHub integrated YubiKey support—modifying browser extensions, building U2F registration and authentication flows in Ruby on Rails, and adding UI features like multiple key registration and nicknames—using Yubico and Google reference code to accelerate development. After a successful internal pilot, GitHub rolled out U2F-backed authentication to its 11 million users in October 2015, delivering a scalable, durable, and phishing‑resistant solution.

GitHub

Shawn Davenport

VP of Security