Securing your PC with greater than only a PIN or password is simple with Windows Hello’s biometric logins; nonetheless, not each PC has the {hardware} to make use of it and a few customers simply don’t need to retailer their fingerprint or have their iris scanned by Windows 10, it doesn’t matter what the privateness guarantees are.
Enter the Gatekeeper Wireless Security Key from Untethered Labs. This Bluetooth system works as a one-touch login in your PCs, in addition to a password supervisor that additionally shops your one-time password codes for two-factor authentication.
It sounds nice, however in my view this product simply isn’t prepared for shoppers. It was initially designed for enterprises, and as a substitute of modifying it for the patron market Untethered is providing the identical product to the lanyard-less lots. The finish result’s that Gatekeeper has some trade-offs for residence customers and simply isn’t a sensible software for most individuals.
First, don’t mistake Gatekeeper as an alternative choice to units just like the Yubikey. Gatekeeper is extra restricted as a two-factor authentication gadget because it doesn’t assist FIDO2 one-touch logins for web sites. That could by no means change as Gatekeeper doesn’t retailer info the best way one thing like Yubikey does. All essential info stays secured on the PC as a substitute.
The system
The main dashboard for the Gatekeeper shopper.
Gatekeeper has three main elements: the Bluetooth key fob known as the Halberd, a low-profile USB Bluetooth sensor, and the Gatekeeper shopper software program. There’s additionally a password supervisor browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
The Halberd runs on a CR2450, 3-volt battery, whereas the Bluetooth sensor is powered by the PC.
Gatekeeper manages logins through the desktop software program, and setup is a relative snap. The one situation I’ve is that the desktop software program makes use of enterprise language that could be exhausting for some folks to grasp. You have to decide on between a neighborhood or area account, for instance. Either will work primarily based on our assessments, however native is the simplest selection for many customers.
The remainder of the setup is an easy case of selecting a PIN and connecting the Halberd to the desktop software program. The Halberd can be utilized on a number of PCs, although every will want a Bluetooth sensor.
Once that’s taken care of you’re off to the races. Gatekeeper controls logins by creating what seems to be its personal person account on the Window 10 login display. I say “appears” since you received’t discover a person account within the Settings app. Regardless, the tip result’s visually the identical.
Adjust Gatekeeper’s login necessities within the settings.
Gatekeeper permits for a number of other ways to log in, together with proximity detection with PIN, an automated login through proximity detection, and a contact login the place you could contact the Halberd to the Bluetooth sensor.
By default, the system makes use of the proximity detection with PIN. The proximity is sort of restricted, which avoids unintentional unlocks you probably have automated logins enabled. Once you get about 12 to 15 ft from the PC Gatekeeper locks down the machine.
Gatekeeper is a enjoyable method to log in that’s extra Mission Impossible than Microsoft Windows, which is why it might attraction to some. The concept with the Halberd is to maintain the fob on you always, thus stopping others from logging in to the PC with out the important thing fob.
The drawback is that Gatekeeper doesn’t cease anybody from logging within the common manner through your ordinary Windows account. There is a setting to disable Windows accounts within the Gatekeeper desktop app, or to require the Halberd along with the common Windows login; nonetheless, these options can be found solely to enterprise clients. Perhaps that’s a superb factor, as a result of in case you ever misplaced the Halberd, or it turned unusable, then you definitely wouldn’t have the ability to get into your PC. We requested Untethered Labs about this and a spokesperson mentioned, “The consumer version of the Gatekeeper application is meant to present the key features of the enterprise solution. Towards this end, we have decided to keep the various configurations to a minimum that is most effective to showcase the Gatekeeper advantages.”
Overall, the system labored very properly. There had been the occasional oddities the place the proximity lock wouldn’t kick in whereas a full-screen recreation was working and I walked away from the PC. I additionally wouldn’t see the Gatekeeper login choice typically after a full PC shutdown, which makes this product higher suited to those that go away their computer systems on on a regular basis.
As a safety gadget, nonetheless, Gatekeeper falls quick because you want an enterprise account to really cease somebody from logging in to your PC with out the Halberd. This type of login, then, is little greater than a comfort for residence customers.
The password supervisor
The Gatekeeper password supervisor within the desktop shopper.
Gatekeeper’s password supervisor works in two methods. The login info is saved on the desktop shopper, in addition to within the browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. All knowledge is encrypted utilizing AES-256 and you can’t entry it with out the important thing fob current.
The password supervisor works merely sufficient. The browser extension provides to seize usernames and passwords as you log in to websites, and it autofills your login credentials as you want them. It doesn’t include additional options that devoted password managers do, equivalent to doc storage or notes. The password supervisor saves net logins and nothing else.
It additionally doesn’t have the power to extract logins from the browser, but it surely does have an choice to export logins to a CSV file through the “Recover Credentials” choice on the backside of the Credentials menu pictured above.
There had been some quirks with the password supervisor’s autofill function. It would behave oddly in Proton Mail, for instance, autofilling the username within the “To:” subject of a brand new mail message. It would additionally throw within the username for PCWorld’s CMS login when managing articles within the net interface. Some financial institution websites would additionally grasp with Gatekeeper lively within the browser.
Gatekeeper’s password supervisor browser extension.
Gatekeeper additionally wouldn’t reliably supply to avoid wasting a brand new login the best way 1Password or Dashlane would. It would do that typically, however not each time, which means you’d need to enter some new logins manually.
One good comfort with Gatekeeper’s password supervisor is that it additionally saves one-time password (OTP) secrets and techniques. This makes it potential to autofill passwords and two-factor authentication codes on the similar time. You want the Halberd close by to make use of the password supervisor, so it doesn’t present easy accessibility to your accounts until an attacker has entry to each the Halberd and your PC with the Gatekeeper software put in.
The huge situation with the Gatekeeper password supervisor for shoppers is that there’s no cloud part, which means your logins and OTP codes aren’t transferred between PCs. It additionally means you possibly can’t entry your passwords on a cellular gadget. We requested Untethered Labs about this and the corporate mentioned, “Not at this time but it may be considered in the near future. We are concentrating on the enterprise customers because our goal is to provide a comprehensive access management solution for organizations.”
Pricing and the decision
The Gatekeeper Halberd system prices $60 for the important thing fob, USB Bluetooth sensor, software program, and a lanyard.
The Gatekeeper system is just not for everybody, as a result of it’s not likely a shopper gadget. It lacks lots of the conveniences that customers have come to count on equivalent to safe cloud storage for passwords so as to have their knowledge obtainable on a number of units. The Halberd doesn’t use Windows Hello, which means you could depend on the Gatekeeper shopper for logging in to Windows. The firm tells me the rationale for that is that its options together with the automated PC lock will not be supported by Windows Hello.
It would even be good if Gatekeeper labored with FIDO2 as different Bluetooth and NFC units do, however that might not be potential because the Gatekeeper key doesn’t retailer knowledge.
In the tip, I’m questioning who would discover this gadget actually usable that’s not a part of an enterprise deployment. It must be somebody who’s primarily or solely a PC person (there’s additionally a Mac shopper), somebody who desires a one-touch login comfort for Windows, and a restricted password supervisor in-built to their two-factor authentication gadget. That, to me, looks like a really slim area of interest.
If, nonetheless, Untethered created a consumer-grade Halberd that supplied a extra full-featured password supervisor (or no less than one with cloud storage for multi-device entry), FIDO2 assist, and integration with Windows Hello (even when it means shedding auto-lock), then we’d having one thing properly price contemplating. Right now, it’s a slim viewers that might have an interest on this as a shopper gadget.