Yubico Yubikey NEO review

Today thanks to the participation of Yubico, we’re going to Review the Yubikey NEO today. The Yubikey NEO is the big brother of the Yubikey FIDO U2F that we saw together in a previous article.

For the presentation nothing to complain about, between the envelope packaging "made in Yubikey" and that of the key, nothing to complain about, it's very professional.

Without further ado, discover this little piece of technology at the service of your digital security.

Yubikey NEO small in size but large in capacity

The Yubikey NEO looks like two drops of water like the Yubikey FIDO U2F. Same size, same weight, the only thing that changes is its color and the logo on the front.

Like its little brother, the Yubikey NEO is equipped with a USB port and is capable of operating in second factor authentication. That is to say to authenticate a person with his login / password to which we add a unique physical element specific to the owner of the account.

In addition to this, the Yubikey NEO is NFC compatible, it also provides other authentication methods like static password, TOTP and HOTP, smart card and multi-profile.

But where to start ?

We will take up all the characteristics mentioned above point by point in order to explain the specificities of each of these methods.

First extremely interesting novelty, the Yubikey NEO is compatible NFC. This means that we can therefore communicate the Yubikey NEO with our smartphone and that wireless. As can be seen below the Yubikey NEO based on technology Mifare of NXP, needless to say, this is of the highest standard in terms of quality and safety. When you use it for the first time, it's very simple, just hold the key on your phone and the two will communicate with each other. Besides, if everything works correctly your phone will open the web browser to the help page when starting up. Yubico.

Second novelty is the static password. This allows the Yubikey NEO to pretend to be a USB keyboard in order to type a login and password for you.

Very practical if like me you have a very long and complicated password to enter several times a day. We insert it into the USB port, select the field that will receive the password and then press the logo on the front of the key. And as if by magic your password is written by itself.

It is not finished

Third novelty on TOTP and HOTP, to put it simply, these two mechanisms allow us to obtain a unique code that is constantly changing. A 6 or 9 digit code that changes over time (usually every 60 seconds) for the TOTP. And a 44-character code that changes with each use for the HOTP.

Fourth novelty the smart card. It will allow you on Windows 10 to identify yourself on the computer without having to enter your password. And if you remove the key, your session will lock itself. Very handy if you are in a hurry or head up in the air.

And the latest innovation, the multi-profile. As the name suggests you will be able to use all the features if above and save them on up to two profiles. Personally, the Yubikey NEO allows me to have a personal profile and a professional profile on the same key, so no need to constantly change keys.

All this is done very easily via the tool Yubikey personalization tool.

For more details on the technical characteristics, I invite you to read comparison chart very well done on the site of Yubico.

Conclusion:

With the Yubikey Neo identity theft is impossible, it is a must have with you on a daily basis. It is light, very robust and also waterproof, yes you understood waterproof.

For 50 €, it would be a shame to deprive yourself of it, now I don't separate me from it anymore. In the next articles us let's go further in the available features and put them into practice. So see you very soon for future articles.

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