Bought a YubiKey 5 after getting phished and it saved my butt

Got an email that looked exactly like my bank last month. Clicked the link, put in my password. Felt stupid for days. Spent $55 on a YubiKey after reading some posts here. Set it up on my email and my crypto exchange. Two weeks later got another phishing attempt and I laughed when it didn't work without the key. Anyone else had this thing catch something sketchy?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_white396d ago

I get the relief, but I'd push back a little on calling it a complete save. In my experience, no single tool makes you bulletproof. A YubiKey is great for stopping that specific type of login scam, sure, but it won't do a thing if someone tricks you into approving a fake transaction or installing malware through a different email. It's a solid layer, just not the whole shield.

terrywilson6d ago

I mean, is getting phished really that big of a deal for most people? Like yeah it sucks and it feels dumb but unless you're moving serious money around or running a business who cares that much. A YubiKey is a nice little gadget and all but $55 could buy a lot of other things. And honestly if you're not careful you can still get hit by a fake transaction prompt or someone calls you and tricks you into reading off a code. Hardware keys are solid for stopping one specific thing but they don't make you invincible. I just wonder how many people really need to worry about this level of security.