YubiKey 5C NFC hands-on: How this tiny gadget keeps your online accounts super-secure

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YubiKey 5C NFC hands-on: How this tiny gadget keeps your online accounts super-secure

(Image credit: Yubico)

Responding to pop demand, security-key maker Yubico today (Sept. 9) released its latest model: the YubiKey 5C NFC, which combines a USB-C male plug with wireless near-field-communications (NFC) for truly secure two-gene authentication (2FA).

The new YubiKey retails for $55 and can be used to log into whatever Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or iOS device that has either a USB-C port (such equally almost modern laptops, Android phones and iPad Pros) or NFC support (most Android phones, iPhones running iOS thirteen.3 or later, iPads running iPadOS 13.3 or later).

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"The YubiKey 5C NFC is 1 of our most sought-after security keys," said Yubico Chief Product Officer Guido Appenzeller in a printing statement. "It'south uniform with a majority of modern-solar day computers and mobile phones and works well across a range of legacy and modern applications."

Of all the various 2FA second factors -- texted codes, authenticator apps that generate codes, push notifications, and so on -- hardware security keys are arguably the virtually secure.

Physical security keys can't be phished or spoofed similar texted or generated codes. Google claims that it has had no successful phishing attacks upon its employees since it began making them employ security keys for 2FA.

The only downsides are that you lot've got to buy the security keys (prices first at near $x but can go up to $70) and so have them physically nearby when you're setting up a new business relationship, setting upward an app or logging into an account from a new device.

It's best to register more than than one security primal for each account, and and then carry one with your regular firm and car keys while storing the other in a prophylactic place.

(Image credit: Yubico)

Hands-on with the YubiKey 5C NFC

We received an YubiKey 5C NFC in advance and tried it out. Setting up our Google account with the YubiKey 5C NFC took just a few seconds. Plugging the key into the USB-C port on our Windows ten PC, nosotros were able to log into Gmail using the Brave browser with no trouble.

Setting up the YubiKey 5C NFC with LastPass, then using USB-C port to log into the LastPass Chrome extension on Windows 10 was simply as piece of cake. So was setting up the YubiKey 5C NFC with our GitHub business relationship, then logging into GitHub on Chrome.

However, we had a harder time using the YubiKey 5C NFC on our OnePlus 5 Android telephone. Nosotros couldn't employ it to log into the Google or GitHub websites in the Brave browser, whether past plugging it into our phone's USB-C port or by borer information technology to the dorsum of the telephone to get the NFC reader to observe. Nor could we get information technology to log into the LastPass Android app.

(Prototype credit: Yubico)

That's probably not Yubico's fault. We couldn't become whatever NFC-enabled keys, including a YubiKey Neo and a Google Titan Fundamental, to log into Gmail or GitHub through the Brave browser. Plugging the YubiKey 5Ci into the USB-C port didn't piece of work either.

We finally had success with the GitHub Android app. It didn't recognize the YubiKey 5C NFC when information technology was plugged into the telephone's USB-C port. But when nosotros tapped the key to the back of the phone and pressed the button, the phone permit out a happy chirp acknowledging an NFC connection and logged us into GitHub.

For the moment, you might want to keep an authenticator app, such equally Authy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or Yubico'southward own authenticator app, every bit a backup in instance a security key doesn't work on your phone. But using a security central like the Yubico 5C NFC with a desktop or laptop is an easy way to greatly improve your business relationship security.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has besides been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting effectually in the information-security space for more xv years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown upwardly in random TV news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA habitation-engineering briefing. You tin can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/yubikey-5c-nfc

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