---
title: kSecAttrAuthenticationType
framework: security
role: symbol
role_heading: Global Variable
path: security/ksecattrauthenticationtype
---

# kSecAttrAuthenticationType

A key whose value indicates the item’s authentication scheme.

## Declaration

```swift
let kSecAttrAuthenticationType: CFString
```

## Discussion

Discussion The corresponding value is of type CFString and denotes the authentication scheme for this item (see Authentication Type Values). note: For compatibility with earlier Keychain APIs, functions in Keychain services accept a CFNumber for the authentication scheme. The number is a 32-bit integer that encodes the authentication scheme as a FourCharCode. In your code, use a CFString with one of the values from Authentication Type Values instead of a number.