Two-factor authentication can protect your account, and a USB Security Key makes for a great backup if you lose your phone.
We've gone over why using on your online accounts is a good idea, and showed you how to as well as how to get started with if you use more than one phone or computer. But we're not done yet!
There is a third thing you can do to help secure your Google account, and this one also is a cover-your-butt backup in case you lose your phone — and the authenticator app you installed on it. We're talking about USB Security Keys. They're relatively cheap (starting at about $10), easy to set up and can get you into your Google account from any computer anywhere.
What are you talking about? Why do I want one of these things?
A USB Security Key is a small plastic key-shaped device you can plug into a USB port on a Computer. Some of them light up, some have a small touch-sensitive button, and some have both. But they don't really do anything, you just plug them in. AT least it looks like they don't do anything.
What you can see is the tiny chip inside the plastic. It's connected to the gold-colored contacts on the pluggy-inny side, and when two of those contacts are powered up by your computer through the USB port, a secure token can be read. Software on a computer can get this token and compare it against what it expects to see, and see if the two match. That software can use this result to do "stuff." When you go to log onto your Google account from a computer, the web page code can read one of these keys. If everything matches, you get a green light and can get into your account. If things don't match, you get an error. Everything is encrypted, everything is safe, and no two keys are the same.
A USB key is like plug-and-play account recovery.
It's a "thing you have" that can be used to authenticate who you are. When used in tandem with your username and password, it makes things very difficult for someone pretending to be you on the internet. It makes for a great piece of a 2FA scheme, but it's best to add it as a third authentication method along with the authenticator app on your phone. It's even a good idea to use more than one of them.
Let's say you get on a plane and head out somewhere nice for a week or so. During the commotion at the baggage carousel or the rental car desk, you lose (or someone steals) your carry-on. Inside was your smartphone and your laptop. If you have 2FA set up on your Google account and don't have another computer or phone that's already logged in you have three options.
- Find those backup codes Google told you were important to print out and keep safe.
- Call Google and work your way through their account recovery process and hope for the best. Also, hope that the information you have on file with Google is correct and you can remember it.
- Scream and shout because you now need to make a new account and will lose everything you had before.
The first option is the best one. Those recovery codes are an easy way in, and Google even tells you how important it is to keep track of them. Mine are ... somewhere. The second option can be a crapshoot, and frankly, shouldn't even exist. Google should never ever give you access to a 2FA protected account if you can't provide both methods of authentication. Knowing your mother's maiden name or the name of your first pet is a ridiculous security challenge, and if I had my phone to take a call and get a code I wouldn't be asking in the first place. And the third option, well, that would suck. None of us want to think about the third option.
If you had a USB Security Key (or two) set up on your account you would have a fourth — log in at any computer, and plug your key in when asked. I have two of them — one on my keychain, and one at my house that I won't lose.
How to set up a USB Security Key
This part is easy. All you need is access to a computer with a USB port — work just fine — and the key itself. There's a link to a good one at the bottom of the page.
Visit the web page for your account settings. . Click the Sign in & security link near the top, then look for the link that says 2-Step Verification under the Password & sign-in method section. You'll need to provide your password (and use a 2FA token if this is the first time you've used this computer or it's been 30 days since you logged in to Google) and you'll see the Security Keys tab in the middle of the page. Click it and there's a handy button labeled Add Security Key.
They're cheap enough, so buy more than one.
Make sure your key isn't already plugged in and click that button. Read the instructions that open, but you already removed the key because you're smart and you read Android Central. Click the Register button and plug in your key when it tells you to plug in your key. If your key has a "button" — a metallic round disk on one side and not really a button — you'll have to lightly place your finger on it. It's not reading your fingerprint, it's just a switch that closes the circuit so Google and your key can chat about baseball and security stuff. OK, just security stuff. But a USB baseball key would be awesome somehow.
And you're done. It will tell you that you're done even. The next time you're at a computer and asked to log into your Google account, it will ask for your key after you've entered your password. You put it in and place your finger on the button if it has one, and it can verify you. If you don't have your key with you, you can still use another 2FA method like the app installed on your phone. And you can have more than one key attached to your account so you have a backup of your backup.
Stay safe out there!