Legacy security is a risk in the age of AI
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is becoming a critical aspect of cyber defense strategies and cyber insurance mandates across the higher Education and K-12 school landscape. According to the 2025 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach in education is $4.44 million. While MFA can be a strong first-line of defense against modern Generative AI and Agentic AI-driven cyber attacks, not all forms of MFA are created equal. AI increases speed and scale of attacks and legacy authentication is no longer enough. Deploying phishing-resistant security using hardware-backed passkeys is the only way to stop modern AI-driven cyber threats.
Research by Google, NYU, and UCSD based on 350,000 real-world hijacking attempts. Results displayed are for targeted attacks.
Safeguard faculty, staff, and students with the YubiKey
To protect against modern cyberthreats, Yubico offers the YubiKey—a hardware security key that holds the most secure form of passkey, helping education institutes deploy phishing-resistant multi-factor and passwordless authentication. It is the only solution proven to completely eliminate account takeovers in independent research.
The YubiKey is simple to deploy and use—a single YubiKey can be used across legacy and modern applications, services, and devices, with multi-protocol support for Smart Card, OTP, OpenPGP, FIDO U2F and FIDO2/WebAuthn on a single key, and doesn’t require a battery or internet connection.
YubiKeys are highly suitable for users that can’t, won’t, or don’t use mobile authentication due to teacher’s union restrictions, personal preferences, cellular geographic inconsistencies, and more, helping you achieve 100% MFA coverage across your institution.
How the YubiKey can help you secure your technology, data, and users:
1. Meet your cyber insurance requirements
Higher education and K-12 schools can face a shortage of cybersecurity insurance capacity and increased cost for coverage if MFA isn’t satisfactorily deployed across the entire ecosystem. Restrictions could include reduced sublimits, higher deductibles, and narrower coverage terms. Cyber policy non-renewals may also be a potential outcome, which can expose a school to significant risk if targeted by hackers, phishing attacks, or ransomware attacks. YubiKeys offer the strongest MFA protection across the industry, ensuring compliance to your cyber insurance mandates.
2. Secure access to data from anywhere, and from any device
Cloud-based SaaS applications such as Google GSuite and Microsoft Office 365, accelerated adoption of online learning platforms, and user mobility have accelerated digital transformation across the academic sector. Faculty, staff, and students need secure and quick access to email, applications, and data from any location—on or off-campus, and from any device.
YubiKeys offer phishing-resistant MFA, ensuring only authorized users have access to the right applications and data. YubiKeys integrate seamlessly with existing identity and access management (IAM) and identity provider (IDP) solutions such as Microsoft, Okta, DUO, Ping, and more than 1000+ applications and services out-of-the-box, including Google Suite, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Office 365, Box, Jamf, and identity and credential management (ICAM) solutions, eliminating rip and replacement of existing solutions.
3. Secure shared workstations
With the YubiKey you can secure access to shared workstations and devices with highest-assurance MFA and passwordless authentication, and deliver a convenient user experience—even for remote access. A single YubiKey works across multiple devices including desktops, laptops, mobile, tablets, notebooks, and shared workstations, enabling users to utilize the same key as they navigate between devices. YubiKeys are also easily re-programmed, making them suitable for temporary faculty and administration staff. They also enable self-service password resets, significantly reducing IT support costs and increasing user productivity.
“In the education world, we often worry that staying ahead of bad actors comes at the expense of our teachers feeling that life has become too hard. I don’t want my staff to feel like they need a secondary degree just to function in a contemporary world. That’s where YubiKey excels—it provides a simple and secure solution that doesn’t change in complexity even as we add more services. It allows our teachers to focus on their students rather than navigating hurdles, making it a smoother transition for everyone involved.”
Lifecycle management: Empower users with YubiKeys
Yubico makes it very convenient to deploy phishing-resistant MFA. You can leverage existing IAM, Identity Credential and Access Management (ICAM) and IDP platforms to manage the issuance, revocation, and policy enforcement of YubiKeys. Yubico also makes it easy to get YubiKeys directly into the hands of your users, through services such as YubiKey as a Service which provides a service-based and affordable model for puchasing YubiKeys, along with turnkey pre enrollment and delivery services.
Key questions Yubico can help you with:
- How do I enroll a YubiKey in my MFA platform?
- How does my help desk support the lifecycle of the YubiKey?
- Can I centrally manage distribution of the YubiKeys?
Once your users have their YubiKeys, the next step involves registering the keys with the applications and devices they will use. Revoking and replacing keys is the recommended next step. If a user leaves, some institutions retrieve YubiKeys prior to their departure while others prefer to allow departing users to keep their YubiKey and continue using it for their own personal accounts.
Trusted authentication leader
Yubico is the principal inventor of the WebAuthn/FIDO2 and U2F authentication standards adopted by the FIDO alliance and is the first company to produce the U2F security key and a multiprotocol FIDO2 authenticator. YubiKeys are produced in the USA, maintaining security and quality control over the entire manufacturing process.
Read about our other Education customers— College de Paris, Swansea University and Duke University.