You need to remember to keep them on you, and losing them has the potential to lock you out of your accounts if you don’t have a recovery process set up. The new key retailed for $50 (around £40), but UK pricing or availability is yet to be announced.

For one thing, SMS is unencrypted, but equally a motivated scammer could trigger a code to be sent to you, before tricking you into entering that code into a malicious site. It effectively means that even if you’ve been a dummy and used the same password for all your online accounts (or you’ve just been incredibly unlucky and fallen pray to one of the numerous hacks that crop up every year) then someone won’t be able to get into your account, even if they have your username and password.Ī common alternative to this physical form of two-factor authentication is a code you can receive by text, but even this can be insecure. The Titan supports USB-A for the time being, but a USB-C dongle is in the works. You enter your password, and then either pair the Bluetooth dongle or plug in the USB key to prove that you are who you say you are.

The ‘Titan Key’ works as a second form of authentication for your online accounts.

The release of the device followed the news that Google was able to all but eliminate the problem of phishing scams for its employees by using such security keys. Called the ‘Google Titan’, the device provides an extra layer of security for any online accounts that support it by requiring you to possess the key alongside your passwords in order to access your accounts. Google has now released its in-house security key for anyone that wants to buy one in the US.

Google titan security key price