Dropbox now lets you secure your files with a physical USB key

In an effort to adopt a greater variety of strong authentication protocols into its system, Dropbox today announced via blog post that the company will now support Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) security keys as a valid 2-factor authentication method.

U2F security keys are physical objects that you place in a USB drive, which follows a open standard from the FIDO Alliance. In order to log in with this method, users must place their key into the USB when logging in to a site. If you want to access Dropbox with your key, the company says it is only currently supported through the Google Chrome browser.

But a workaround for this issue has long been in place:

Signing in from a device or platform U2F isn’t supported, or don’t have your key on hand? Don’t worry — you’ll still have the option to use two-step verification through text message or an authenticator app.

While many people might deem the U2F support excessive — considering Dropbox has supported two-step authentication for a few years now — but it can make Dropbox a reachable option for a highly secure cloud for businesses or other targets where phishing is a common occurrence.

Dropbox has provided documentation on how to enable U2F through its help center.

➤ Dropbox

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