
The Yubico Safety Key C NFC is one of the best safety key for most individuals as a result of it provides extensive compatibility at a low value. It’s the newer model of our earlier high choose, and it helps newer authentication protocols. Design-wise, it’s practically similar to our improve choose, nevertheless it lacks that key’s superior options. Nonetheless, except that you must use it as a sensible card or to generate MFA codes, the Safety Key C NFC is succesful sufficient, and it’s additionally extra reasonably priced.
It may be used with virtually any web site that helps safety keys. The refreshed Safety Key C NFC helps the older—but nonetheless broadly used—FIDO U2F protocol. It additionally helps the newer FIDO2/WebAuthn protocol, which permits for passwordless authentication and passkey storage. Meaning you may in all probability use this safety key properly into the long run.
It has dependable, multi-platform help. A safety key that doesn’t work properly with your whole units isn’t price shopping for. The Yubico Safety Key C NFC bought alongside properly with the 15-inch MacBook Air, Pixel 7a, iPhone 14 Plus, and the Lenovo Home windows 11 laptop computer we used for our newest spherical of testing.
It’s sturdy sufficient to stay in your keychain. The Safety Key C NFC is extraordinarily properly made and nice to carry. The plastic enclosure is barely textured, with a recessed, touch-sensitive disk on its floor that you simply faucet throughout authentication. Though Yubico’s merchandise are mild, they really feel sturdy, they usually did not flex or creak after we tried to bend them. Many competing keys felt low cost, plastic-y, and hole by comparability. The Safety Key C NFC emerged from our shake take a look at with minor scuffs, which had been tough to see even in good lighting. We’ve been utilizing Yubico units for years, and we are able to say with certainty that they’ll survive on keychains with out difficulty.
Yubico provides simple onboarding and glorious buyer help. Yubico packaging—which should be torn open and exhibits makes an attempt from anybody making an attempt to tamper with the important thing inside—features a URL that results in the corporate’s onboarding supplies. A visible menu helps individuals rapidly determine their keys and discover related setup supplies in addition to tutorial (albeit considerably dated) movies. Yubico additionally lists which companies are appropriate with its keys, and that is very helpful. We discovered that Yubico provides responsive buyer help by means of its web site. After we despatched in a query, customer support responded in minutes with an intensive and considerate response.
Flaws however not dealbreakers
It doesn’t have many superior options. The Safety Key C NFC doesn’t help the Yubico OTP MFA protocol, although this isn’t a lot of a loss as a result of it’s not broadly used. This key additionally doesn’t help TOTP storage, Good Card/PIV, OpenPGP key storage, or any of the opposite neat methods discovered within the YuibKey 5 collection. However most individuals received’t have the ability to make the most of them anyway.
Yubico doesn’t use open-source firmware or {hardware}. Open-source software program might be examined for potential safety flaws, and open-source {hardware} ought to likewise be freed from nasty shock vulnerabilities. Yubico does, nonetheless, have an energetic vulnerability disclosure program.
You may’t improve the firmware. Upgradable firmware is good as a result of it permits producers to guard prospects towards not too long ago found vulnerabilities and even add new options. A system for updating firmware, nonetheless, may probably be exploited by attackers, though it must be a posh assault. Prior to now, Yubico has issued a recall when an issue was found with its product.
It has just one design. Though you may select between USB-A and USB-C fashions, the Yubico Safety Key line doesn’t have the number of designs and connectors discovered within the Yubico YubiKey 5 collection or in Feitian’s steady of merchandise. You probably have very particular wants in regards to the dimension and performance of your key, you’ll want to take a look at these choices.
It’s a superb deal for one key however dear for 2. Probably the most safe method to make sure you’re by no means locked out of your accounts is to purchase a backup key and enroll it in all places you employ your major key. Whereas the Yubico Safety Key C NFC is comparably low cost, it’s much less of a compelling deal if you’re shopping for a backup, too. One various is to make use of backup codes or one other type of MFA as a backup. The consultants we spoke with cautioned that attackers might try to idiot you into utilizing a backup MFA choice that’s phishable, so watch out for those who go that route.