Yubico Forum

Hello.

I just got my yubikey today, and am still figuring out ways to use it. Works like a charm with LastPass . I was a victim of the Gawker fiasco, and like a lot of people, used the same passwords everywhere. Well, my eyes have been opened, and have adopted Lastpass, and now, the yubikey!

Now, I'd like to educate people around me on the importance of securing our online identities, and hopefully, yubikey's role in it. In that context, I KNOW people will have many many questions about the yubikey, and while I have skimmed the user manual, and gone through the website, I still have a few lingering questions. I'd be grateful for any clarifications.

1. Just how robust is the yubikey? How well does it stand up to regular use/torture, dropped in a pocket with keys/coins, etc? The thought of those sharp pointy keys jabbing at it kinda worries me
2. The website says it's waterproof, but the huge exposed metal contact gives me cause for concern. My roommate recently put his cellphone through the wash, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. What the level of water resistance can I brag to people about?!
3. Is there a consolidated and comprehensive resource that a regular (ie, not very tech savvy) standalone consumer can consult to improve security, hopefully in conjunction with a yubikey? Unfortunately, (no offense meant) a lot of your resources are geared for administrators, and while all the technical details are great, it's quite difficult for a regular consumer to comprehend.

With respect to the hardware robustness, the most important difference between the Yubikey and most electronic gadgets is that it is completely monolithic, i.e. there are no voids and everything is hermetically sealed. We have made quite a few tests ourselves and we've also got reports that the Yubikey survives a 30 meter deep dive in the Red Sea as well as being driven over with a 4x4 Land Rover.

An other area of concern for some users have been the exposed gold contacts. We use a special hard gold alloy that is reasonably resistant to scratching and abrasion. A good comparison is ordinary contacted Smart Cards, where large contact pads are exposed. These are also subject to scratching, abrasion, sweat and dirt and usually survive several years in a wallet. Although it is difficult to find a default specification for bank cards, it seems like our gold quality is far better.

I have had my current Yubikey in my keychain since we introduced Yubikey 2.0 and the gold is like new. The hard plastic grinds the keys slightly which makes the plasic look a bit dirty. I threw in the Yubikey in our houshold dishwasher and it ran for 2 hours in 55 degrees C with ordinary detergents. It came out shining, just like new.

From what we've investigated, there is no generally accepted standard for testing the durability of a device like the Yubikey but using our warranty returns as a measure of durability, it is very reliable.

With the best regards,

JakobE
Hardware- and firmware guy @ Yubico

The robustness of the keys was one of the concerns I had when I first started playing with the Yubikeys. The first Yubikey I bought I did nothing more than put it on my keyring, just to see how well it lasted. After 3 months it was still in perfect condition, and I decided to roll them out to the company.

That was close to 2 years ago, and I still have that same Yubikey on my keyring, and not only does it still work perfectly, but both the USB connector and the button are both in near perfect condition.