Apple now lets you protect your Apple ID and iCloud account with hardware security keys, a physical login technology that offers maximum protection from hackers, snoops and identity thieves.
Hardware security keys are small physical devices that communicate with USB or Lightning ports or with NFC wireless data connections when you’re logging on to a device or in to an account. You must have keys in your possession to use them, so they’re effective at thwarting hackers trying to reach your account remotely. And because they won’t work on fake login sites, they can thwart phishing attacks that try to fool you into typing your password onto a counterfeit website.
Support for the keys arrived Monday with iOS 16.3 and MacOS 13.2, and on Tuesday, Apple published details on how to use security keys with iPhones, iPads and Macs. The company requires you to set up at least two keys.
The move follows hardware security key support from other tech companies, like Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook parent Meta. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, says security keys are the “gold standard” of multifactor authentication.
