Though there are other authentication dongles out there, YubiKeys are largely the face of the physical two-factor authentication movement. Unfortunately, to date it's also been unavailable for the most high-profile smartphone in the world. But today manufacturer Yubico is releasing the first Lightning port YubiKey for use with iPhones and iPads. It's been a long time coming.
First announced in January, the Lightning YubiKey has been in the works for more than a year now. Yubico first needed to get Apple's MFi certification—a license required for all Lightning devices—before it could start designing the product and getting third-party developers on board. The dongle, priced at $70, has a Lightning connector on one side and USB-C on the other side. That way it works with not only iPhones and iPads, but also MacBooks or any other USB-C device. Up until now, Yubico hasn't had any offerings that could work with iOS devices, and even among competitors the only option was Bluetooth authentication dongles, which can be glitchy, need to be charged, and potentially introduce their own insecurities.
Though the Lightning YubiKey is finally here with Apple's (mandatory) blessing, the company still hasn't incorporated the underlying open authentication standard, FIDO 2, into its operating systems by default. As a result, the Lightning YubiKey can't automatically work as an authentication token throughout your iOS experience. Each app needs to add compatibility individually through a new application programming interface. For toda ..
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