These days having a password is no longer good enough to protect your online accounts. This is because passwords can be guessed, whether it be through deduction or through brute force methods. This is why two-factor authentication is becoming increasingly common, as well as hardware security keys.In fact Google has recently proven that maybe hardware security keys are the way to go to protecting your accounts and computers. In a report from Krebs On Security (via Android Police), it seems that in 2017, Google’s 89,000+ employees have not suffered from any phishing incidents ever since the company started implementing the use of hardware security keys.
For those unfamiliar with such devices, they are basically USB sticks that when plugged into a computer will authenticate the user using it. This means that even if a hacker guessed your password, if they did not have the security key then they still wouldn’t be able to access your account or computer.
In fact some developers have also chosen to use hardware security keys as a way of authenticating the software’s validity to ensure it is not pirated. Google has confirmed the report in which a spokesperson said, “We have had no reported or confirmed account takeovers since implementing security keys at Google.”
Google is also not alone in trying to implement the use of security keys. Companies such as Twitter now support users using such keys to log into their accounts, and Mozilla’s Firefox browser also supports such devices.