Yubico's USB security keys may soon come to Windows 10
Windows 10 users may soon have another password-free option for logging into their accounts. The security company Yubico has just released USB security keys with support for FIDO2/WebAuthn and Microsoft has decided to put its weight behind the project by announcing that Windows 10 as well as Azure Active Directory will work with this new authentication method. If you were wondering, the new security dongles will come with a price tag of $20.
For those of you who aren't familiar with USB security key, they replace the traditional password, allowing you to login on your Windows account simply by selecting your username and plugging the dongle into the computer. According to Microsoft, the upcoming update for Windows 10 will also include support for FIDO2 password-free login technology, but we don't know exactly when that update is going to come. Nevertheless, those who are registered with the Windows Technology Adoption Program can already enjoy the FIDO2 support and hopefully, they won't have too many bugs to report back to the IT giant's engineers.
Even though this isn't the first passwordless login solution that Windows 10 adopts as facial authentication options have been available for a long time now, Yubico's USB security keys could be an important step into eliminating passwords altogether. Of course, every possible solution has its own downsides, but by this point passwords have become such a liability that almost any new option is a good one.
