Microsoft’s Surface Pro 10 for Business enables NFC-based passwordless authentication with YubiKeys

Microsoft has consistently been a pioneer and architect of digital innovations that raises the bar for what technology can accomplish – especially within cybersecurity. Their mission to empower every organization to achieve more is highlighted in advancements in new products – including today’s announcement of Surface Pro 10 for Business which prioritizes security and user experience.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 10 for Business is the first Surface Pro that has a built-in NFC reader – located on the top left of the screen. This new authentication flow enables quick and secure passwordless login, to the device and cloud services, such as Windows 365 or Imprivata with just a tap of the YubiKey to the device. 

With the added NFC capabilities built into the Surface Pro 10, creating phishing-resistant users in the enterprise is now easier than ever. The YubiKey can be used at Windows login to authenticate, via NFC, into a user’s cloud-based Microsoft account, instantly signing in to Windows and Microsoft 365 applications –– marking a significant step towards a passwordless future.

Utilizing device-bound passkeys stored on a YubiKey, users have the flexibility to access their cloud-based profiles and data from any Surface Pro 10 – a major benefit for all industries to provide the highest level of security, in addition to specific industries with shared workstation environments such as hospitality, retail, healthcare and many others.

“Our enterprise customers rely on Surface for industry leading security and seamless user experiences. The ability to quickly and securely sign-in to the device and authenticate with NFC security keys is a critical experience that we’ve added to Surface Pro 10. YubiKeys take full advantage of the integrated NFC reader and delivers a huge win on both fronts,” said Nancie Gaskill, General Manager at Microsoft. “We are excited to work with Yubico to enable the use of YubiKeys, providing users with secure and innovative authentication options to protect against the increasing threat and volume of identity-based cyber attacks.” 

Be sure to register for our upcoming webinar with Microsoft on April 18 where we’ll dive into how to use YubiKeys on the Surface Pro 10 and share more on our other Microsoft integrations – register here.

The power of Yubico with Microsoft: Partnering for a secure future

Together, Microsoft and Yubico have paved the way for a passwordless, phishing-resistant future for organizations of all sizes and industries. Yubico has a long-standing collaboration with Microsoft as FIDO Alliance members and leading contributors to FIDO2/WebAuthn authentication standards. With FIDO2/WebAuthn, organizations benefit from a frictionless user experience while strengthening security with phishing-resistant, hardware-based passkey authentication in YubiKeys. Through our collaboration and mutual membership in the FIDO Alliance, Yubico and Microsoft seamlessly collaborate to guide public and private organizations toward Zero Trust principals.

Whether an organization’s environment is in the cloud or on premise with Microsoft Entra ID, YubiKeys offer a solution that accelerates the journey to passwordless authentication. The good news for Microsoft users—whether using Entra ID or Microsoft 365—is that they can seamlessly leverage native support for the YubiKey, ensuring immediate compliance with strict privacy regulations.

Designed to help organizations achieve the highest level of authentication security and usability at scale, the YubiKey natively works with Windows 11, Entra ID, Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS) and hundreds of enterprise applications and services to prevent account takeovers. The YubiKey is the only hardware security key that concurrently supports the widest variety of authentication protocols and open standards, which enhances authentication while reducing complexity and total cost of ownership. 

Right now, you can use your YubiKey with your work or personal Microsoft account, Edge browser, Entra ID, and more. Additionally, your organization, whether public or private sector, can block any sign-in attempt that does not use CBA and ensure your users are protected by leveraging secure, phishing-resistant, multi-factor authentication solutions with a passkey. Add to this the newly announced capabilities being built into the new Surface Pro 10 and the YubiKey really becomes ubiquitous to the safe, effective, efficient user security that enterprises need and expect.

Go passwordless by combining the YubiKey with the new Surface Pro 10

Take advantage of the longstanding collaboration between Microsoft and Yubico by deploying YubiKeys together with the new Surface Pro 10 for your enterprise. Enjoy enhanced security assurance and streamlined user onboarding while ensuring compliance to rigorous industry standards with Zero Trust, phishing-resistant, and modern MFA protection across all organizational roles. From frontline workers to behind-the-scenes support staff, engineers, and even executives overseeing them, everyone can benefit from the cutting-edge security provided by the YubiKey.

For more information on the Surface Pro 10 and the new NFC capabilities, visit Microsoft.com. To learn more about YubiKey’s NFC capabilities, visit here.