It’s day two of Aragon’s 12 Technologies of Christmas! This blog series will give you our recommendations for the perfect gift for the tech savvy individuals in your life this holiday season.
by Jim Lundy
For the second day of our 12 Technologies for Christmas, I am going to discuss securing your identity by using a Security Key and something called U2F—or Universal Second Factor. We’d note that there is more than one protocol for U2F. This holiday season, don’t let yourself—or your enterprise—fall victim to a hacking attack. While no method is foolproof, a security key is a major step you can take to protect yourself, and it’s an important step to take for overall enterprise security.
A security key is a simple, straightforward way to begin security your identity. There are various providers, including Google, Nitrokey, and YubiKey (by Yubico) who offer low-cost options.
Understanding the Sim Swap Hack
The problem with 2 Factor Authentication today is a back hack called a SIM Swap. In this case, the hacker calls your cellular carrier and gets your phone number transferred to their device. From then on, they have access to your accounts, one by one, because once they guess your password, they have the backup authentication method and the rest is history.
Today, many of the hacks have been personal, but we see this getting worse. The theft of IP and the theft of large sums of money will happen to enterprises with this kind of hack. The good news is there are some things you can do to prevent this kind of hack. Our advice to you is to get a security key and change your authentication method to U2F.
Why You Need to Buy a Security Key This Holiday Season
The greatest gift you can get yourself this holiday season is protecting your identity. Security Keys work with Google and Microsoft accounts and they are not expensive. Two of the providers are Yubico (maker of YubiKey) and Nitrokey. We’d also note that Google partnered with Yubico to make its own key, which is very similar to the YubiKey.