With USB-C on many recent computers and mobile devices, and the almost-universal availability of NFC, the 5C NFC is capable of communicating with just about any device, regardless of brand, making it the most versatile hardware multifactor key I've yet reviewed. In fact, the Apple computer I'm using to write this review has precisely zero USB-A ports, but two USB-C ports. When I last reviewed a hardware multifactor key, USB-A was still king, but my fellow PCMag analysts tell me USB-C is now widely available. The 5C NFC, reviewed here, has a USB-C connector and NFC capabilities. The 5 NFC has a USB-A connector and can communicate wirelessly via NFC. The 5Ci, for instance, has Apple Lightning and USB-C connectors.

The only difference between the 5 series keys is how they communicate with your devices. The YubiKey 5C NFC is one of several devices in the YubiKey 5 series. Recently, Twitter declared, 'While any form of 2FA is better than no 2FA, physical security keys are the most effective.' Turn the Key When Google started requiring employees to use hardware multifactor keys, account takeovers effectively dropped to zero. A bad guy trying to take over your account can easily download stolen login credentials, but it's much harder for that same bad guy to also steal your fingerprint or your YubiKey or your mobile device. The advantage of multifactor authentication is that it's much harder for an attacker to have access to multiple factors at the same time. As you might guess, 2FA requires you to use two factors in order to get access to whatever it's protecting. Two-factor authentication, sometimes abbreviated as 2FA, is the most common form of multifactor authentication you're likely to encounter. Using at least two of these means you're using multifactor authentication. A hardware authenticator like a Yubico YubiKey is something you have. Something you are could include biometrics, like a fingerprint scan. Most of us use password authentication in our day-to-day lives, which is something you know.

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