The Bluetooth model will be withdrawn in favor of an all-NFC lineup.

Google has announced that it is retiring the Bluetooth version of its Titan security key in order to streamline its security product line. The search giant will now only offer two editions; one with USB-A and USB-C, both of which will pack NFC to enable it to be used by most mobile devices. That should reduce any confusion that would-be purchasers had with the current lineup, where some models packed the Near Field standard, and others did not. Google’s Christiaan Brand said that the company was going to focus on the “easier and more widely available NFC capability” going forward, although support and warranties for the existing Bluetooth keys would be “honored per their terms.” The new keys are now available on the Google Store.

Titan keys were initially launched in 2018 as Google’s take on the sort of hardware security key made by Yubikey and others. They’re designed to be far more secure than standard methods of two-factor authentication and, when implemented, Google said that their use had completely eliminated internal phishing attacks. In the run-up to the 2020 US elections, Google even pledged to hand out Titan keys to political groups to help them secure their campaign data.

Source:
courtesy of ENGADGET

by Daniel Cooper

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