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Yubikey Two Factor Authentication Implant

trybalwolf

October 2015

edited October 2015

in Coatings, transdermals, other implants

So I am working on a bit of an interesting project.

I don't know if any of you guys are familiar with the Yubikey, but it is a small hardware device that offers two-factor identification at the press of a button. The basic concept is to have a physical key that is used as a second factor in the protection of login and other sensitive information. The Yubikey Neo also has an NFC tag that allows it to function with NFC enabled devices.

My plan is to strip down the Neo and encase it in medical grade silicone or PDMS. The finished product would then be implanted underneath the skin of my forearm.

I purchased the Neo today and will be familiarizing myself with the device once I receive it. Then I can begin the process of stripping it down and obtaining materials for bioproofing.

Just thought I would start a thread to document the project, and to gain feedback and ideas from others. What do you think of this project?

Tagged: NFC, implants, Yubikey, Authentification, projects

Comments

1. 

   AlexSmith
   October 2015
   I find this idea interesting, so I did a little googling.

   the neo is the only one with NFC, if the neo-n had it, I think this would be great, but the neo is still awful big. still, I hoped that maybe it could be cut down to make it small, but I found this tear down of it, looks like the only way to make it much smaller would be totally redesign the PCB. which is doable, but would take a lot of work. still, best of luck to you with this project.
2. 

   trybalwolf

   
   October 2015
   There is actually one potential benefit to be gained from the size of this device. The larger antenna coil might help a lot with read range. Just speculation as I do not have the neo yet. Just a thought.
3. 

   emdantrim
   October 2015
   IMO, this wouldn't make a lot of sense; the NEO depends on USB for programming and a lot of its more useful features (CCID), and I don't think I've seen very much information about it being used with NFC outside of writing/reading TOTP tokens, which isn't really where the device shines -- though it is nice.
   
4. 

   hon1nbo
   April 2018

   @emdantrim said:
   IMO, this wouldn't make a lot of sense; the NEO depends on USB for programming and a lot of its more useful features (CCID), and I don't think I've seen very much information about it being used with NFC outside of writing/reading TOTP tokens, which isn't really where the device shines -- though it is nice.

   (yes, I know old thread but I've been researching this topic recently and the U2F mode has gained larger adoption in recent years).

   You can program U2F over NFC, and U2F is one of the biggest advantages of the Yubikeys.
   U2F can be used with a lot of services from the same key, as it generates unique public keys per service using subkey private keys backing it. The larger antenna for better reads, the ability to use it with multiple services, activate new services over NFC, and work with mobile devices as well as desktops makes for a very compelling implant.

   I just got the first of what will hopefully be a few test yubikeys; going to try with some cutlets this weekend to see if I can still get reliable reads from my phone as well as some other devices.

   Anyone else interested in exploring this path?