Yubikey (general two factor auth) question

[abigfish]

Hello. I am interested in ordering a Yubikey from their website, but I am curious about something first.

Can I use it as a two factor auth for ANYTHING ?? or are they specially designed for BTC wallets ?

I am asking because I would like to use it for BTC...but my primary interest is in other apps ...for example password managers, poker clients, online casinos, maybe even communication ? or just safe file storage ?

Can it be used for all those tasks ? and is 1 enough ? or do i need one yubi for each thingy separately ?

I realize these are probably totally stupid questions ...and I am GRATEFUL for anyone taking their time to answer ...I'd rather hear it from an experienced user (or someone who has it at least) rather than reading potentially fake/incorrect googled up information.

Thank you !!

[Stephen Gornick]

Can I use it as a two factor auth for ANYTHING ?? or are they specially designed for BTC wallets ?

If you want to use a Yubikey with Mt. Gox you need to order it from Mt. Gox.   

There are other services which use Yubikey.  That Yubikey from Mt. Gox is customized and will not work with other services.  You can use a Yubikey obtain from Yubico with those services.   

You don't want to share the same Yubikey with more than one service.

[abigfish]

Thank you for the answer.

I forgot to specify : YES ! I would like to get one from Yubico.
I don't want it for Mt.Gox AT ALL !!! I don't want to use Mt.Gox.
But I want to use it for a wallet or more wallets @ https://blockchain.info/wallet/ ..can it be used there ?


May I ask why : "You don't want to share the same Yubikey with more than one service."??
Is it a software/hardware issue or just to be extra safe ? For example I would at least like to use one for 2-3 different poker sites if possible and another one for 2-3 different BTC blockchain wallets ...

[someguy123]

Thank you for the answer.

I forgot to specify : YES ! I would like to get one from Yubico.
I don't want it for Mt.Gox AT ALL !!! I don't want to use Mt.Gox.
But I want to use it for a wallet or more wallets @ https://blockchain.info/wallet/ ..can it be used there ?


May I ask why : "You don't want to share the same Yubikey with more than one service."??
Is it a software/hardware issue or just to be extra safe ? For example I would at least like to use one for 2-3 different poker sites if possible and another one for 2-3 different BTC blockchain wallets ...

Depending on the authentication method you use on your yubikey... if it's just the super-long password with a click of a button, the sites could steal that password and use it on elsewhere.
Where-as if a site supports the OTP method, you could be perfectly safe to use it on multiple sites.

[BenTuras]

Why don't you use Google Authenticator on your smart phone ?
It's used on many websites and can even be used to secure your Linux login.