Whether you’re on the go or working from home, locking your electronics is always a tricky balance of security and convenience. A device can either be totally secure or incredibly convenient to access, but not both. Yubico’s latest security key, the $55 YubiKey 5C NFC, might have the balance just right. It can unlock nearly any device with minimal effort.
Yubico isn’t new to the security game by a long-shot, and it has slowly built a name in convenience and security. Yubikeys work off the concept that good security comes with a physical component. That way you don’t have to worry about remembering a long password or someone spotting your simple pin you reuse across all your stuff.
Instead, connect a physical object to validate your identity and let it provide the security credentials. Yubico says this key, like others in the YubiKey 5 series, can prevent phishing and man in the middle attacks. That’s due to storing a single-use strong password on a physical device.
The key supports multiple authentication protocols, including FIDO2, FIDO U2F, smart card (PIV), Yubico OTP, OpenPGP, OATH-TOTP, OATH-HOTP, and Challenge-Response. And it supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. So long as your device either has NFC or a USB-C port, the YubiKey 5C NFC should work with it.
USB-C is the new bit here, and an essential addition as more and more devices make the switch away from USB-A. You can buy the $55 Yubikey 5C today at Yubico’s site.
Buy on Yubico
Source: Yubico