Yubico has been around for ages as a purveyor of security tools to help keep your work and information safe; what started as a simple two-factor authentication token has evolved somewhat – it’s no longer sufficient to have someone else’s token, you’ll need their fingerprints too in order to unlock anything.
From today, the new Yubikey Bio supports all the modern 2FA standards (FIDO2/WebAuthn and U2F protocols) and is available in USB-C and USB-A variants for use on whatever desktop/laptop you have (note, these keys aren’t exactly designed for mobiles/tablets). They’re available for around $128 here (for the USB-A version) or $136 (for the USB-C).
Besides allowing users to secure their 2FA with a fingerprint, the Yubikey Bio maintains the philosophy of the previous generations – the Yubikey Bio is bus-powered, meaning no batteries, drivers or associated software. Rather, it uses the native biometric enrollment and management features built in the latest platforms and operating systems, allowing for easy use just about everywhere.
What if you’re in a situation where you can’t use your fingerprint (e.g. wearing gloves)? No bother, you can use a secure PIN instead.
Yubikeys are supported by many leading security apps and services – you can use them with your Google, Microsoft or Facebook accounts, to secure your passwords with 1Password or Lastpass, for existing two-factor solutions like Duo or Okta, and for other services like AWS Single Sign-on, Github, Salesforce, Instagram and many other popular services. The list is enormous.
Want one? Well, there’s plenty of resellers in Australia so you don’t have to ship from overseas and wait.
No nfc. Expensive for the fingerprint feature. Will stick with regular USB C yubikey. I’m the only one tapping anyway.