Yubico Forum

For some reason, we did not anounce the new NFC-enabled Yubico NEO on the forum as we launched it publicly. Given the amount of interest and feedback we've got, it seems appropriate to remedy this by telling a bit about it now.

First of all - read our product page at http://www.yubico.com/yubikey-neo

Different from the RFID Yubikey, which comprises two separate security chips, the Yubico NEO is an integrated solution that provides Yubico OTPs over an NFC interface synchronous to the OTPs being generated when the Yubikey is inserted in the USB port. This means that the same Yubikey can be used for accessing the same service, both from a desktop setting as well as a mobile setting.

The Yubikey NEO emulates a NDEF type 2 tag, i.e. a NFC interogator which scans it think it is a "smart poster". Although a "smart poster" conceptually describes something that emits a static piece of information (typically an URL with a promotion code or similar), the NEO in the same setting emits a URL + OTP string. This gives a nice out-of-the-box experience when scanning it with an unconfigured NFC phone. The NEO supports the URI and Text NDEF record types.

The NEO works as an ordinary USB-connected Yubikey as well. In the first version it supports one configuration only.

We've uploaded an updated version of the Windows configuration tool that supports writing a NDEF descriptor to the NEO. This version is compatible will all previous versions of Yubikeys.

Anyone who's interested in exploiting application develiopment in Android could use the standard NFC APIs. We've made a proof-of-concept together with Lastpass that shows how a richer user experience can be acheived by installing an app in the phone.

The Yubikey NEO is a different technical platform that the Yubikey 2 / RFID Yubikey. Quite a few additional features are required to acheive this integrated functionality and it should therefore not be assumed that Moore's law automatically will make the NEO the mainstream product. With this said, one should assume that the NEO will have a price premium over the standard Yubikey.

The NEO is now launched in a pre-production version where we're exploring various functionalities together with partners. We expect the NEO to enter full production during H2'2012. We're of course very interested to get your feeback regarding the "final" functionality.


Best regards,

JakobE
Hardware- and firmware guy @ Yubico

Thanks for the additional explanation! You mentioned "the first version" it supports one configuration only - is this true for the pre-production only or this years production release as well, or it's not decided yet?

Also, is the OTP configuration for the slots the same as the current Yubikeys? Presumably you'll need one more setting for the URL/host, but are there any more features (or perhaps, limitations?) compared to a current configuration slot?

(No NFC device, for the moment )

Where should I post for queries/problems related to the Neo?

Hello,

You can post your queries, problems related to YubiKey NEO on the same forum post (http://forum.yubico.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=765).

Thanks and best regards,
Samir.

I'm experimenting with the Yubikey NEO on my Nokia N9, and when I launch the browser from a NEO contact, the browser fails.

Unfortunately, the browser fails with the very unhelpful message "Couldn't open page".

This seems to be an incompatibility between the Yubico authentication service and the N9's browser, because it works fine when I'm using Firefox. Unfortunately, Firefox doesn't seem to be as optimised for the N9 as the built-in browser, so I prefer to stick with the built-in browser.

In any case, I expect that Yubico would probably want to aim for maximum compatibility, so I'm happy to do whatever I can to help troubleshoot this, as I would really like to be able to use a NEO with my N9.

So how can I help resolve this problem?

Hello,

We just send a standard NDEF2 tag from the YubiKey NEO - so EITHER our target web page [my.yubico.com] fails on the Nokia browser OR the Nokia does not handle the NDEF2 tag.

Thanks and best regards,
Samir.

I think the target web page fails on the Nokia N9 browser, because switching to Firefox on the N9 works fine.

So how do we troubleshoot this?

Will the NEO work to secure Google Wallet on a Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.1.1?

Is there a method to use the NEO to lock/unlock the phone?

First off i love the Neo! It works great with my Nexus 4. But i wanted to configure the key to also allow sign on from my personal PC. My pc is a dual boot laptop with ubuntu and Win7. I downloaded the the yubikey personalization tool on ubuntu but it was unable to read any of my keys (I Have a 2 regular keys, 1 mt. gox key, 1 nano, and 1 Neo)... it was late so i decided to scratch the idea and get some sleep. The next day i decided to go ahead and try to set up the sign on for Windows as i was sure this is a painless process.
I installed the logon administration and personalization tool. Finally, i was able to see all the keys with no problems. So i configured slot 2 on the Neo, Nano, and a Regular key as i wanted to make sure everything works (all with the same settings on slot 2). So i plugged in the Neo, ran the logon admin tool, selected the profile, but the configure button was still grayed out. So I then plugged in the Nano, and the configure button lit up, and i was able to configure it for use. Rebooted, was able to sign on with no problems.

But i still can get the logon admin tool to recognize the Neo.

I having some trouble getting my NEO working with my Nexus 4.

I have LastPass installed. I enabled login via Yubikey, register my Yubikey with Lastpass and set Disallow mobile access. When I try to sign into Lastpass I swipe my NEO and get an audio tone but nothing else occurs.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks