It’s an open secret that passwords aren’t the most effective way to protect online accounts. Alarmingly, three out of four people use duplicate passwords, and 21 percent of people use codes that are over 10 years old. (In 2014, among the five most popular passwords were “password,” “123456,” and “qwerty.”) Two-factor SMS authentication adds a layer of protection, but it isn’t foolproof — hackers can fairly easily redirect text messages to another number.
A much more secure alternative is hardware authentication keys, and there’s good news this week for folks looking to pick one up. During Microsoft’s Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida, Yubico unveiled the YubiKey 5 Series: The YubiKey 5C, YubiKey 5 NFC, YubiKey 5 Nano, and YubiKey 5C Nano. The company claims they’re the first multi-protocol security keys to support the FIDO2 (Fast IDentity Online 2) standard.
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