The internet was intended for sharing global information, and security was a non-issue. As it has evolved and scaled to a mayor part of our everyday lives—so have the criminals. Today, 3.8 billion email accounts, login credentials are being compromised every day. Because of this stunning number of global users, data has become more than just numbers and statistics. All data on the internet, is in a way a valuable set of information about economic projects, security and private data such as, names, date of birth, social security numbers and your ( faulty assumption ) personal email. Your assumption that your email is a private matter is true, but millions of people are faced with hacked data and subsequently loose their anonymity on the internet and face massive problems. Problems that could lead to personality theft and huge financial problems, as most people don’t use password managers and/or safe places for their precious data.

On top of all this, most people use only ‘one password’ to cover all their logins from email to government or business related access. Security is underestimated by millions, which makes the internet a great place for fraud and hackings. I guess almost everybody’s email address has been compromised in some way ( mine does as well ), as we all have a gmail account, or subscriptions of a newspaper or others. You may sometimes even receive an email from your host warning you about a hack that has taken place and your data, credit card is stolen. Welcome to the club !

HOW DOES TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION WORK

YubiKey 5 NFC, stops account takeovers, and offers password-less and modern multifactor authentication. You should get the world’s leading security key for superior security, user experience and return on investment. YubiKey’s, primary role is as a second factor of authentication. In practice, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) needs you to do a second thing after entering your password to prove it’s you / ownership. The basic theory behind ‘2FA’, is combining two different systems of authentication from a list of three:

Authentication factors, listed in approximate order of adoption for computing, include the following:

1. A knowledge factor is something the user knows, such as a password, a PIN (personal identification number) or some other type of shared secret.
2. A possession factor is something the user has, such as an ID card, a security token, a cellphone, a mobile device or a smartphone app, to approve authentication requests.
3. An inherence factor, more commonly called a biometric factor, is something inherent in the user’s physical self. These may be personal attributes mapped from physical characteristics, such as fingerprints authenticated through a fingerprint reader. Other commonly used inherence factors include facial and voice recognition. They also include behavioral biometrics, such as keystroke dynamics, gait or speech patterns.

(source: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/two-factor-authentication)

For example: a ‘password’, is something you know, and it should be remembered (or stored in password manager / Dashlane). Biometrics—like fingerprint scans, retina scans, heart signatures, and so on—count as something you ‘are’. Yubico YubiKeys and their ilk are something you ‘have’. The later YubiKey 5 has evolved in years and at this moment is a world leader in 2FA keys. It’s that good, that Google also entered this market and created their TiTan version being a competitor from now on.

YubiKey 5 Series is able to do much more.

• use it as a smartcard to log in to my desktop computer.
• use it log in to SSH servers.
• generate a PGP key and then use the YubiKey to sign or authenticate.