TOOL LIBRARY / SECURITY, PRIVACY & ACCESS
YubiKey
Uses a physical key to protect sign-ins and support account recovery.
What it is
YubiKey is a family of small hardware keys from Yubico for stronger sign-in to supported accounts and devices. Depending on the model and service, a user plugs in or taps the key to confirm identity instead of relying only on a password or phone code.
Ways to use it
Ideas from real executive operations work. Take the ones that fit.
- Register a YubiKey for the executive's primary email and password-manager accounts.
- Issue and test a primary key plus a separately stored backup key for each protected person.
- Use the service's phishing-resistant security-key option for supported administrator, finance, and cloud sign-ins.
- Maintain an inventory that records the assigned person, key model, connector, and enrollment date.
- Revoke a lost or departed user's key promptly and complete the documented recovery process.
Our take
YubiKey is well suited to high-value email, password-manager, finance, cloud, and administrator accounts that support hardware-backed sign-in. The security benefit depends on disciplined enrollment and recovery, so an IT or security owner should control the standard rather than leaving each executive to improvise.