Authentication security key maker Yubico has launched what it says is the world’s first mutli-protocol security key with smart card support designed with both near-field communication and USB-C connections. The key is called the YubiKey 5C NFC and is available to purchase for $55.
The company cited a dramatic increase in the rate of cyber attacks and phishing attacks – particularly related to COVID-19 – as the need for the dual functionality of the new key.
According to Check Point, COVID-19-related attacks increased from under 5,000 a week in February to over 200,000 per week in late April. Attackers are jumping on the opportunity to infiltrate inherently unsecure home networks since many workers are still logging onto their corporate devices from home.
The YubiKey 5C NFC can be used to authenticate accounts across all leading platforms, like iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux. Keys can also be used on any mobile device, laptop or desktop that supports USB-C ports or NFC.
The YubiKey 5C NFC supports multiple authentication protocols, like 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.
The key can be used across a wide range of services and applications from email clients, identity access management solutions, VPN providers, password managers, social media, collaboration tools and more, Yubico says.
The flexibility of the key should make it attractive to the enterprise, as it can eliminate the need for costly custom integrations or separate authentication devices for each system, according to Yubico.
Yubico recently launched its YubiEnterprise Service with includes a subscription and delivery model for large enterprise, so organizations and quickly deploy Yubico security keys at scale and have them shipped to employees’ homes.
“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.”
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