They’re relatively inexpensive a single Yubikey can range from $45 to $85 (US dollars at the time of this writing).These can be added one at a time as needed. A single yubikey can provide first or second factors for any number of OS logins, applications, and browser-based applications.The key can’t be duplicated or copied to another blank yubikey.While individual one-time passwords can be sent to a computer, the underlying details needed to generate these can’t be extracted from the Yubikey.

Unlike a file stored on a system somewhere, Yubikeys store the needed credentials away from the drive of a potentially compromised system.

We have lots of authentication options available to us – why would one choose the Yubikey over another type of authentication? While there are other aspects to this device, that’s about 90% of what you need to know. When you need to log in to something, put the Yubikey in a USB port and press the button. The Yubikey hardware is very simple: they generally include a USB connector for attaching to a computer or phone, and have a button. This post is designed to give you the basic concepts needed to use it the other posts will all focus on how to use the Yubikey with a specific application or service.

Supported by a wide range of applications and web services.

This the first in a multipart blog series on the Yubikey, a second-factor authentication device that is:

Yubikey usb c lightning