PyPI Repository Makes 2FA Security Mandatory for Critical Python Projects

Additionally, the developers of critical projects who have not previously turned on 2FA on PyPi are being offered free hardware security keys from the Google Open Source Security Team.

PyPI, which is run by the Python Software Foundation, houses more than 350,000 projects, of which over 3,500 projects are said to be tagged with a "critical" designation.

According to the repository maintainers, any project accounting for the top 1 percent of downloads over the prior six months is designated as critical, with the determination recalculated on a daily basis.

But once a project has been classified as critical it's expected to retain that designation indefinitely, even if it drops out of the top 1-percent downloads list.

The move, which is seen as an attempt to improve the supply chain security of the Python ecosystem, comes in the wake of a number of security incidents targeting open-source repositories in recent months.