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Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

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Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#12
post #3

Trezor? https://blog.trezor.io/secure-two-factor-authentication-with... It is also hackable: https://doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-tech/resources.html

Another hardware wallet that supports FIDO/U2F is the Ledger Nano S: https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/ledger-nano-s

The downside of this and the Trezor is that you need a cable to connect it to a device.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#14

Nitrokey (formerly CryptoStick) https://www.nitrokey.com AFAIK they are used at Mozilla. The Firmware is Open Source. Downside is that not all their dongles support U2F.

Actually, none does: https://www.nitrokey.com/#comparison

The only dongle to support U2F is currently only available for pre-order, with ETA in autumn 2017.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#16

While we're at it, is there one that: - Lets me store certificates and PGP keys - Has two factor authentication (U2F) - Has open hard and software (source-available) Basically, a USB pen drive that allows U2F, and is can be made read only (either by a switch or only writable over a special interface). I don't really need tamper-resistance, pre-generated keys, smart cards or any other advanced features.

The difficulty with PGP keys, is that the most common implementation, GPG, wants complete control of the device and does not let it be shared so that other interfaces, like PKCS# can be used. So if you want something for both GPG and other purposes, it really needs to present as two separate devices, or you need to go hacking a branch of GPG. When I looked into doing this, it seemed that upstream would not be interested in interoperation with other smart card standards, so it may not get accepted into upstream.

At least that was my experience. If somedbody can correct me, I'd be incredibly grateful.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#18
post #17

It's worth considering: almost nobody who uses Yubikeys loves them, but they are by a wide margin the tokens experts recommend most.

The problem is largely with their docs, or lack thereof. Just figuring out how to use one as a token for ssh is incredibly painful. The docs are very "enterprise," meaning half-done, overly complicated, confusing, scattered, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#19
I recommend the OnlyKey: https://www.amazon.com/OnlyKey-Color-Password-Manager-Obsole...

The device uses strong encryption (where legal), and goes beyond U2F to include password management, certificate storage, OTP/Google Auth, and plausible deniability. The hardware is teensy-based, and the firmware is open source. The devs have released fairly regular updates, and even encourage hacking on it to meet custom needs.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to Yubikey?

#20
post #17

It's worth considering: almost nobody who uses Yubikeys loves them, but they are by a wide margin the tokens experts recommend most.

There was a series of changes, e.g. regarding platform keys, software source availability etc etc. I think there were some "I don't endorse this anymore" posts, although I don't really remember the details.
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