YubiKey NEO

YubiKey NEO (2012–2018, USB-A + NFC hardware authenticator by Yubico)

Overview

The YubiKey NEO is a multi-protocol hardware token combining USB-A and NFC interfaces. It supports both HID (keyboard) and CCID (smart-card) modes and MIFARE Classic 1 k.

Supported Applications

• One-Time Passwords (OTP)
  • Two independent OTP slots, each programmable as:
    • Yubico OTP (ModHex, 32 chars)
    • HMAC-SHA1 Challenge-Response
    • Static Password
    • OATH-HOTP (counter-based)
  • Delivered over USB HID or NFC (configurable NDEF URL)

• FIDO U2F
  • Unlimited per-site credentials
  • USB HID or NFC for universal second-factor flows

• OATH (HOTP & TOTP)
  • Stores up to 28 OATH credentials
  • Accessed in CCID smart-card mode via Yubico Authenticator

• PIV Smart Card (CCID)
  • Certificate-based login, SSH, code-signing
  • RSA 1024 and RSA 2048 key support

• OpenPGP Card (CCID)
  • OpenPGP Smart Card v2.0 for GnuPG
  • RSA 1024 and RSA 2048 key support

Physical & Interface

• Connector: USB-A (USB 2.0)
• NFC: Contactless NDEF + MIFARE Classic 1 k
• Dimensions: 18 × 45 × 3.3 mm
• Weight: 3 g

Limitations (vs. Later YubiKeys)

• No FIDO2/WebAuthn (CTAP2) support
• Smart-card key size capped at RSA 2048 bits
• USB-A only (no USB-C)
• No FIDO2 resident (client-side) credentials or passwordless flows
• OATH-HOTP/TOTP only via CCID (no direct OTP keystroke)

Comparison with Other Models

Feature	YubiKey NEO	YubiKey 4	YubiKey 5 NFC
NFC	Yes	No	Yes
FIDO U2F	Yes	Yes	Yes
FIDO2/WebAuthn (CTAP2)	No	No	Yes
OTP (Yubico/OATH-HOTP)	Yes (slots + CCID)	Yes	Yes
Smart Card (PIV/OpenPGP)	Yes (≤ 2048 bit)	Yes (≤ 4096 bit)	Yes (≤ 4096 bit)
USB Port	USB-A	USB-A / USB-C (4C)	USB-A & USB-C
Resident Credentials	No	No	Yes

Support

• Support Page: https://support.yubico.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013714579-YubiKey-NEO

Setup

Basic setup for use as OTP:

Install ykman:

jeremy@computer $ sudo snap install ykman

Generate an OTP, along with a private ID and key:

jeremy@computer $ ykman otp yubiotp 1 --serial-public-id --generate-private-id --generate-key 

Using YubiKey serial as public ID: vvccccsfudhp
Using a randomly generated private ID: 7e5a8b0c664f
Using a randomly generated secret key: 735c8a8b7e8f7c980d6ac716fe8sff34
Program a YubiOTP credential in slot 1? [y/N]: y

Now go to this URL and enter the results to register it: https://upload.yubico.com/

Now you can press the button on the YubiKey in different programs and websites to use it as an OTP.