Client to Authenticator Protocol


The Client to Authenticator Protocol enables a roaming, user-controlled cryptographic authenticator to interoperate with a client platform such as a laptop.

CTAP

CTAP is complementary to the Web Authentication standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium. WebAuthn and CTAP are the primary outputs of the FIDO2 Project, a joint effort between the FIDO Alliance and the W3C.
CTAP is based upon previous work done by the FIDO Alliance, in particular the Universal 2nd Factor authentication standard. Specifically, the FIDO U2F 1.2 Proposed Standard became the starting point for the CTAP Proposed Standard, the latest version of which was published on January 30, 2019.
The CTAP specification refers to two protocol versions, the CTAP1/U2F protocol and the CTAP2 protocol. An authenticator that implements CTAP2 is called a FIDO2 authenticator. If that authenticator implements CTAP1/U2F as well, it is backward compatible with U2F.
The protocol uses the CBOR binary data serialization format.