Dashlane Continues to Lead the Password Manager Industry in Innovation By Becoming the First Password Management Provider to Offer U2F FIDO Yubikey Integration
Today (May 18, 2016) Dashlane emailed all users about their latest innovation, a better method of 2 factor authentication using Yubikeys. Yubikeys are cute little usb devices that, upon setup, install an extra security layer. While Yubikeys have been around for a while, this is a new twist on them…called U2F FIDO Yubikeys.
A Yubikey is a hardware devices that’s meant to replace older forms of authentication for Dashlane users using 2FA (2 factor authentication.) These older methods relied upon things like receiving a code by email or via an authentication app like Google Authenticator. Using a Yubikey, there’s no need to wait for an email or to mess with sometimes finicky authentication apps.
These new U2F FIDO Yubikeys are Yubico’s most economically priced keys at $18. In addition, they partnered with Dashlane to offer current premium users a 25% discount off of the purchase of a new Dashlane compliant Yubikey…but this offer is only available to the first 500 Premium users who claim them.
Use this link to read more about Dashlane’s announcement and watch their video.
Setting up and Using the new key is simple (shown in the illustration below.)
You can compare different Yubikey models using this link and the screenshot below.
More About Yubico and Their Yubikeys
Those Familiar with Previous Versions of Yubikeys Know They’ve Been Around Awhile
…but the new FIDO U2F keys are much simpler, better, less expensive and are already receiving wide industry support.
Some of the corporations already adopting U2F Fido include:
What makes Dashlane’s announcement so interesting is that these new Yubikeys include the newest security protocol, called FIDO U2F.
Yubico, the company behind Yubikeys explains it best by saying that…
“FIDO U2F is an emerging open authentication standard, with native support in platforms and browsers. U2F breaks the mold for high security public key authentication, by removing the complexity of drivers and specialized client software” that was previously required.
Link to Yubico’s Illustration of How FIDO U2F Works & Hak5‘s Public Service Announcement Video
Scroll down the page from the above link to find Hak5’s great video explaining in simple terms what 2 factor authentication means and how the FIDO U2F improves upon it.
Who Can Use the New Yubikeys?
These new keys are plugged into a usb port, therefore you need a device with a usb port to use them…meaning that they are primarily intended for use on desktop and laptop computers.
Yubico is working on a Bluetooth model for mobile devices saying…
“Yubico will be releasing new devices that support the U2F protocol using both Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and NFC in the very near future. The FIDO Alliance is currently finalizing specifications for these two transport mechanisms.”In terms of browsers, currently Chrome is the only browser that’s supported, Yubico states…
“You must be running the latest version of the Google Chrome browser, which includes support for the U2F protocol. To check the version number, in your browser, click the Chrome menu in the toolbar, then select About Google Chrome. (Support for U2F was added in version 38.)At this time, Chrome is the only browser supported. However, Mozilla is currently building support for U2F and Microsoft is working within the FIDO Alliance to eventually bring support to Windows 10.”
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