The USB security key that everyone has been wanting

September 9, 2020 TH Author

I’ve covered a lot of Yubico USB security keys over the years, and while the company has a fantastic range of hardware, there’s one key that people have been really desperate for over the past year or so.

A security key that combined USB-C and NFC.

Now it’s here. Introducing the YubiKey 5C NFC.

Must read: I wish my iPhone had this amazing and useful feature

While mobile-based 2FA (2-Factor Authentication) is better than nothing, it is vulnerable to attack. Hardware-based systems do away with that, and offer the best possible security for your online accounts.

The YubiKey 5C NFC can be used across a broad range of platforms — iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux — and on any mobile device, laptop, or desktop computer that supports USB-C ports or NFC.

Yubico YubiKeys are compatible with a huge list of services and apps — from password managers such as LastPass and 1Password, to services such as Twitter, Login.gov, GitHub, Bitbucket, CloudFlare, AWS, Dropbox, and more.

“The way that people work and go online is vastly different today than it was a few years ago, and especially within the last several months,” said Guido Appenzeller, Chief Product Officer, Yubico. “Users are no longer tied to just one device or service, nor do they want to be. That’s why the YubiKey 5C NFC is one of our most sought-after security keys — it’s compatible with a majority of modern-day computers and mobile phones and works well across a range of legacy and modern applications. At the end of the day, our customers crave security that ‘just works’ no matter what.”

The YubiKey 5C NFC supports multiple authentication protocols including FIDO2 and WebAuthn, FIDO U2F, PIV (smart card), OATH-HOTP and OATH-TOTP (hash-based and time-based one-time passwords), OpenPGP, YubiOTP, and challenge-response.

It works like every other YubiKey — plug it in and press the disk, or tap it — and away you go. You do need to register they key for each service you use, but I added it to my services — Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, LastPass, and a few others — in less than ten minutes.

Yubico has made it easy for enterprise customers to deploy YubiKeys by launching YubiEnterprise Services, which give customers the ability to buy security keys at scale, and even have them shipped direct to employee’s residential addresses.

The YubiKey 5C NFC is available for purchase from today and retails for $55.