We are introducing what we consider to be one of the most significant updates to the modern authentication ecosystem. Yubico co-created the FIDO passkeys standards and we were first to market with a passkey supported Security Key back in 2018. Now, with the signing extension preview, Yubico is leading the way by making passkeys and hardware security a fully integrated security solution for both agents and humans. For developers, 5.8 firmware introduces standardized APIs that make hardware-backed signatures as straightforward to integrate as passkey authentication.

Our upcoming YubiKey 5.8 firmware will introduce FIDO CTAP 2.3 and WebAuthn preview signing extension support. Together they can deliver compatible, privacy-capable digital signatures using passkeys, “autofill-like” passkey experiences, expanded enterprise IDP support, and support for next-generation digital wallets. For developers and organizations who are building on this technology, we would like to welcome you to our upcoming webinar where we will dig deeper into 5.8 firmware and discuss an early access program.

Privacy capable digital signatures are at the heart of modern identity protocols including digital identity wallets. In order to scale to the millions of users in the emerging digital wallet ecosystem, digital signatures should be available to the user utilizing standardized APIs across all platforms. Other use cases include digital document signing with a passkey, be that traditional document signing or expanded use cases such as medical records, treatment confirmation, or agent action approvals. 

With the adoption of CTAP 2.3 in the 5.8 firmware and enhancements like the W3C signing extension, it shows how in the future it will be possible to build highly usable digital signatures in regular web applications, enabling a wide range of services to include digital signatures as part of their workflow. Currently this requires integration with costly backend solutions and complex special equipment for key management (HSMs) that puts such solutions out of range for most enterprises. Just like FIDO passkeys has revolutionized authentication and has been shown to radically reduce phishing attacks, digital signatures using FIDO passkeys will revolutionize digital identity.

In addition to digital signatures, future 5.8 firmware YubiKeys will also include enhancements to enable:

• Seamless Passkey UX: New Conditional Mediation and PPUAT support will allow platforms to display YubiKey credentials in dropdowns alongside software passkeys, significantly streamlining the user experience and increasing login speed while maintaining the highest levels of security.
• Enterprise Scale: Storage for Enterprise Attestation RPIDs has increased from 2 to 16, allowing organizations to manage complex enterprise identity architectures and/or mixed production and test environments (e.g., test.example.com vs. prod.example.com), on a single device.
• Secure Payments: The ThirdPartyPayment extension enables platforms that support Secure Payment Confirmation (SPC) to integrate support for YubiKeys to verify transactions across domains without redirects, enabling faster, more secure checkout flows.
  

Support is already growing and to drive the industry forward, we invite the FIDO Alliance, browser and OS providers, and those building solutions in the digital identity and security ecosystem to join us in making secure and privacy enabled digital signatures as easy to use as passkeys by supporting CTAP 2.3 across all platforms. 

Leif Johansson, Executive Director, SIROS Foundation has stated,“With the functionality within the YubiKey 5.8 firmware, SIROS ID, based on the open source wwWallet project, will be able to offer EUDI compliant wallet solutions at the highest level of assurance with state of the art privacy. The SIROS ID already supports the new firmware and we are working on supporting Zero Knowledge proof technology using the preview ARKG-based signing extension and Google longfellow.” 

Paul Radu, Co-founder, OCCRP says, “OCCRP is working with Yubico and SIROS Foundation to establish a digital press pass for investigative journalists around the world. For our members, privacy is a matter of life and death. We rely on the technology built into YubiKey 5.8 to provide a privacy preserving and simple user experience to keep our journalists both safe and securely identified.” 

Glenn Gore, CEO, Affinidi stated, “Trust is the new infrastructure, and protecting it has never been more urgent. YubiKey 5.8 is a leap forward, making it seamless for hardware tokens to power emerging identity standards like EUDI with the privacy and security users demand. Affinidi is at the forefront of decentralized trust for humans, enterprises, and AI agents, and together with SIROS Foundation, we’re bringing to market the innovations that will define the next generation of digital identity and security.” 

Drummond Reed, Co-Founder, First Person Project in collaboration with the Linux Foundation says, “The goal of the First Person Project is a universal solution to privacy-preserving proof of personhood. This solution must be rooted in digital wallets and verifiable credentials with platform independent, privacy-preserving authentication and digital signatures. YubiKey 5.8 with FIDO CTAP 2.3 and preview signing extension support is a major step in that direction. We look forward to working closely with SIROS and YubiKey to integrate this into the First Person Network.” 

Victor Wrede, CSO and founder of Scrive added, “Scrive is a Qualified Trust Service Provider and a European leader in electronic signature and identity automation. We are proud to partner with Yubico on the introduction of the YubiKey 5.8, which delivers a new standard for platform-independent, hardware-bound, and privacy-preserving digital signatures. At Scrive, we have long championed open standards, and we are excited to see the FIDO ecosystem evolve to make high-assurance signatures part of the standard APIs available to everyone. This collaboration is a significant step forward in our mission to improve security and efficiency simultaneously, ensuring our customers remain at the forefront of digital compliance.” 

If you are interested in exploring the upcoming YubiKey 5.8 firmware, please register for our upcoming webinar “Secure Digital Signatures with Hardware Passkeys – From Wallets to AI Agents”, on February 26, 2026 at 9 a.m. PT. 

We look forward to working within the identity and security industry, where together, we will future-proof authentication for the modern enterprises and the privacy-conscious consumer.