Recently there was a report from Krebs on Security in which it revealed that how in the year of 2017, Google’s 89,000+ employees were pretty much unaffected by phishing attempts. The reason behind this is apparently due to the fact that Google made it a requirement for employees to use hardware security keys for authentication purposes.
Now according to a report from 9to5Google, it looks like Google wants to extend those security features to their customers, and have apparently started to sell its own hardware security keys dubbed Titan. The Titan security key will be initially made available to Google Cloud customers where it is aimed at admins and other users who are considered “high-value”, but it is expected to be made available to all Google users in the near future.
According to Google, “We’ve long advocated the use of security keys as the strongest, most phishing-resistant authentication factor for high-value users, especially cloud admins, to protect against the potentially damaging consequences of credential theft.” The key will also feature NFC, Bluetooth, and will support charging over USB-C for mobile devices.
Hardware security keys are no doubt a more secure way of protecting your computer and your accounts, but the problem is ensuring that you do not lose it. We’ve also started to see how online services are also starting to support hardware security key logins, so perhaps this could be the way of the future.