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Hugo Romano

Google Titan - A 2FA device to protect yourself from hackers

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Like a second lock after your password, Titan Security Keys help prevent phishing and keep out anyone who shouldn’t have access to your online accounts. Security keys are the same level of security used internally at Google.

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Justin Potts
This is a neat product. Google recently announced none of their 85,000+ employees had been successfully phished when using 2FA devices like these. Will be interested to see how many consumers adopt a physical device, rather than rely on SMS or email.
Primer
@pottsjustin I don’t agree that this is a good reference. All of Google’s 85000+ employees are going to be significantly more savvy than your average phishing victim and thus hugely unlikely to be a victim of such an attack, 2FA or otherwise.
Claire Lovell
@pottsjustin @mickc79 People who work at big companies like this are more likely to be targeted for attacks though. Not everyone who works at Google is an engineer.
Daniel
@mickc79 just because you a techie doesn't mean that you don't fall for phishing.
Ryan Hoover
Curious how many people use a physical 2FA device like this (other than their phone, of course). Will this be increasingly common in the future?
Ben Parker
@rrhoover Our org just decided to move this direction and we were searching for good options. We're now on the waitlist and will be using this product! Stoked!
Advena
@rrhoover I recently grabbed myself a Yubikey 4 (https://www.yubico.com/product/y...). Hands down, the best security-motivated decision I've made in a long time. It works great for security both accounts and physical devices (thanks to Yubikey's compatibility with Windows Hello).
Sam Campbell
Curious how this compares to the Yubico offerings.
Alex Hughes
So, what happens if you loose your keys? You just can't use the internet for a while until you get a replacement or what?
Alex Bouma
@alexjackhughes in this case you get two keys, one for on your keyring (with bluetooth etc.) and a "normal" USB type A key, you are supposed to keep one of them in a safe place as a backup. As with all two-factor if you loose it, you are permanently locked out of your account if you don't have recovery codes or if the service does not provide a recovery method.
Alexander Smekhov
what if someone steals it or you lose it somehow?
Raveesh Bhalla
@asmekhov they still need your password. Physical keys are technically safer than other 2FA options (such as SMS and authenticators)
mark!
@asmekhov I think you might be wondering what if your "locked out" as well. If you lose both keys, you can hit up Google to retrieve your account (according to some video it may take up to 3-5 days though unfortunately).
Marlon Wayne
I still have my key from when I worked at Google. It's a brilliant solution. I'm curious about how biometric 2FA will make this more obsolete as technology progresses (accurate retina scans, Motorola's password pill, etc)
Benjamin Lupton
So dumb this isn’t USB-C. Anyone still in the past using USB-A should be punished with a dongle, not those in the present.
Michael Henry
360 Magnetic Solutions _
@balupton I understand that the USB-C is faster than the USB-A. Why do you that it's dumb for it not to be USB-C? Is it because of the lack of speed, lack of backwards compatibility, or something else?
Benjamin Lupton
@360magneticsolutions because of the dongle thing I already mentioned
Benjamin Lupton
@360magneticsolutions for more detail on the thought process behind my statement, you can refer to this recently published twitter thread: https://twitter.com/balupton/sta...
Siranush Hovhannisyan
cool
Joel De Gan
They are sold out, I am on the waiting list, how long until more come?
Rakesh Kumar
Awesome GOOGLE TITAN 2FA