Depending on the strength of your password and security measures of the online service, it can take them from minutes to weeks of effort to reconstruct your password.Īnother popular attack is phishing, where you end up on a wrong web address which looks identical to your bank or e-mail. This doesn't mean that hackers got access to your password but it's best to change it anyway. If you type in your e-mail into Have I Been Pwned?, you'll see all (known) data breaches that included your online accounts. Also, my most frequently used YubiKey is permanently inserted in a USB port of my laptop. Carry one with your normal keys, in case you need to login on the road.(There's a difference from door keys where you need to change the door lock, here you just disable one key.) If you lose your key, disable it on all accounts as soon as you can.Optionally, leave a spare key with a friend or in a safe storage. Have at least two, in case you lose one.Actually, it's good to treat your hardware security keys as normal keys. It's important to have more keys, as your key can get lost or stolen. Google, Facebook or GitHub allow adding as many security keys as you want. It's both more secure and easy to use-a double win!

A YubiKey is more secure and only needs a touch to be activated. Since I bought my YubiKey(s), I don't use SMS codes or similar complicated factors. Assuming you typed in everything correctly, you are logged in!Īll the hassle aside, the SMS protocol is not very secure, so the effort doesn't even add that much value. Then you retype the code from your phone into the computer. First you wait for the SMS code to arrive and if it doesn't arrive, you have to retry.

Many websites encourage you to use multi-factor authentication, however most of the available options are cumbersome to use. The security key on the photo is YubiKey 5 NFC and it makes my online accounts more secure by providing an additional login factor on top of a password.Īs a side note, Orbitkey key organizer on the photo above is awesome too!

Yubikey 5 nfc alternative