Yubico Authenticator vs Google Auth vs Twilio Authy - BEST 2FA App in 2024

happy New Year welcome to 2024 I am so excited because I'm starting this year with a showdown between yubico authenticator Google Authenticator in twillo AI now if I sound congested it's because I am I was gifted a respiratory infection on Christmas day which I am still recovering from so I just need to say if you're sick please stay home some of us do not have PTO and really can't take time off work this video is in partnership with yubico as a part of my ongoing MFA series you can get $5 off each Series 5 or security series key at uo.com with the code Shannon moris more on that in a little bit so I am often asked which of these three apps is the best and why I see that comment all the time each one of these does have pros and cons and you may prefer one for its specific features each of these is free but the differences are pretty large so we're going to start with UB Co authenticator now if you are familiar with yuiki devices and if you have watched anything on my channel you likely are then this one will definitely peque your interest yubico authenticator is all about that hardware-based security it's very clean and straightforward app that pairs seamlessly with your yubi keys providing an extra layer of protection Beyond just your password so in terms of Pros the hardware-based security is a significant win here it makes it extremely difficult for those with malicious intent to steal any of your six-digit codes you can think of the yubico authenticator app as simply a visual screen that looks inside of your Hardware Key nothing is actually being stored on your phone it's just using your phone's display to show you what is already stored on the Ubbi key of course I could go really deep into protocols etc etc encryption everything that you have to know about like how Hardware Keys work but if you are interested in a really deep deep dive about that I have done videos on that already now since the authenticator app basically allows you to use a hardware key with websites that only have that six-digit code option this means that you will get a wider range of compatibility with services and Platforms in order to use the ubico authenticator app for 2of codes you download the app you choose to add a key it could be any of your Hardware keys if you have several and you plug in your key or you tap it on the back of your phone this will add your key to your authenticator app so from there anytime you want to add new accounts that accept tofa codes for authentication you just need to click add account scan the QR code from the website that you want to set it up on and add that secret key to your Hardware Key the nice thing about the app is you can use the same QR code to add those secret keys to more than one UB key and I did a walk through of this in my recent video about what to do if you lose a Hardware Key another perk is if you lose your phone those two FAA codes will be inaccessible without the hardware key to unlock them and if you download the app onto another device you will be able to access those two FAA codes as long as you have your Hardware key it's also crossplatform and it can be used on desktop as well which I found to be helpful whenever I was first setting up my online accounts to work with it since the app just ingests the QR code secret key for me so I didn't have to take a photo of the QR code or copy and paste the secret key so this setup ends up being safer than just using the app on your smartphone because even if you lock an app with a pin you will be safer if you are locking the app with a Hardware Key instead that is separate from your phone the downside is the feature set of the ubico authenticator app is kind of limited it does not include Cloud syncing features within the app because it is tied to your Hardware Key but if you are more security conscious that's probably a good thing you can choose between themes like light or dark modes and you can set a password to unlock the UB key whenever you tap it on the back of your phone or plug it in now I do want to mention chicken is not my real password I was just using that as a demo FYI you will need a Ubbi key to use this app but you are in luck because you came to my channel in this video yubico has been working with me on creating a whole series of videos all about multiactor authentication and using Hardware keys so if you don't have one yet or you are looking to add more to Your Arsenal use my coupon code for $5 off each one hit up ubic and use the code Shannon Morse all one word at checkout and stock up on those Hardware keys in the New Year join me in 2024 to create the ultimate consumer Security in the easiest ways possible and thank you to yubico for sponsoring this video okay next we have Google Authenticator now it's the go-to app for many users due to its Simplicity and widespread integration but how does it Stack Up on the pro side Google Authenticator is as simple as a GU making it incredibly userfriendly to use it you take a photo of a QR code and you add accounts to your app then you can copy the six-digit codes from the app in order to log into any of your online accounts Google Authenticator introduced Cloud syncing this past year which means that your codes can be synced to your Google account now while this is very convenient it also opens up a potential loophole that could be exploited by an attacker so if somebody gained access to your Google account hopefully they never do but it's a possibility even if they don't have your phone they could download the app on their own phone log into your Google account and download your codes onto their own phone it is now endtoend encrypted though which is better than no encryption in transit at all now Google doesn't make disabling Cloud syncing very clear in order to disable it you do have to click on your user profile photo and click use without an account Google Authenticator can also be used for any website that accept codes from an authentication app but the downside is if you lose your phone and you don't set up online backups you could lose access to those tofa codes it's also not the most secure you can't hide the codes and you can't force a tap to reveal them there's also no way to lock the app with Biometrics or a pin code now lastly we have twillo ai ai is best known for being a cloud-based authenticator app aie has aimed to stand out with its cloud based backup and Multi-Device support but that also might be its biggest negative from a convenience perspective cloud-based backup ensures you won't lose access even if your phone takes an unexpected dive off of a mountain side here in Colorado ay's Multi-Device support lets you authenticate from your phone from your tablet even a smartwatch so it's pretty convenient when you set up aie it asks for a phone number to associate with your account as well as an email address as a backup contact method it verifies both email and phone number by sending six digigit codes to each of them aie does have the best looking user interface there's a dark and a light mode it's got large icons a tile View and a colorful main page that make it really easy to find your tofa codes for any sites you can also drag and drop to sort them however you please but I would assume a lot of folks in my audience may have reservations about the security implications of storing authentication codes in the cloud you can disable those backups which is what I would do and the backups are password protected you can also disable Multi-Device usage as well the app can also be locked with a pin code or Biometrics and it's very easy enough to remove any old devices from your account if you ever decide to delete those online accounts so after looking at these from a basic view I would say they all have pros and cons but we need to talk about data practices as well another major point that you might want to consider is each app data practices in the case of ubico authenticator that app does not collect or share any data whatsoever no data is shared with third parties no data is collected by uico it's pretty simple as that in the case of Google Authenticator while no data is shared with third parties Google Authenticator does collect data and that includes your device ID app crash logs and Diagnostics app interactions and optionally in app search history which is used for Analytics fraud prevention security compliance as well as app functionality optionally it can also collect your contact info it also collects data from photos for account management kind of an obvious one there and it also collects optionally your name email address user IDs address phone number Etc and data is encrypted in transit and lastly we need to look at twillo Ai No data is shared with third parties again thankfully but folio does collect data such as your approximate location crash logs and Diagnostics analytical information about app activity personal information such as your email address user IDs and phone number and the device ID and data again is encrypted in transit so when it comes to Security in data privacy yubico authenticator obviously takes that Crown the hardware-based approach provides an extra layer of protection that Google Authenticator tlio aie just don't match and while each app does have its strengths like aie is the prettiest for sure yubico authenticator is far ahead in the race for the most secure authentication app I think that yubico authenticator Google Authenticator and twio aie each have their strengths and weaknesses but if security is your top priority then yubico authenticator is the clear winner in my little showdown of course the best choice depends on your specific needs and preferences what is your go-to authentication app and did this comparison change your mind at all let me know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe if you found my video useful and coming up next week I will be at CES so stay tuned for a ton of content coming out from that event as well bye y'all

Channel: Shannon Morse

Views: 40,963

Keywords: best 2fa app for iphone, best 2fa app 2023, best 2fa app android, best 2 factor authentication app, best 2fa authenticator app, google authenticator, two factor authentication, microsoft authenticator, 2 factor authentication, google authenticator app, two-factor authentication, authy, 2fa, 2 step verification, yubikey, google authenticator setup, authenticator, best authenticator app, security, authy app, totp, multi factor authentication, yubikey iphone, yubico authenticator

Id: 3wVHi9WXIK8

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2024