Yubico Reveals 265% ROI and 99.99% Reduction in Risk of Exposure to Addressable Breach Risk Costs According to Total Economic Impact Study

In an era of high-quality deepfakes and generative AI-driven extortion, the study shows a critical shift in cybersecurity: traditional MFA is no longer sufficient to stop modern MFA-bypass and social engineering attacks. According to the study, deploying YubiKeys effectively eliminated phishing and credential-theft risks, reducing an organization's risk exposure to breach costs from addressable attacks by 99.99%.

“As AI-driven threats make traditional authentication methods increasingly vulnerable, this Forrester study confirms for us that phishing-resistant MFA is no longer optional — it is now a cornerstone to cyber resilience and a business accelerator,” said Ronnie Manning, chief brand advocate, Yubico. “YubiKeys not only safeguard the enterprise against rising phishing threats but actually return time to employees to focus on business-critical tasks and reduce the burden on security and IT teams.”

Key Financial and Operational Findings

The financial analysis, based on interviews with decision-makers at six large organizations, revealed significant quantified benefits, a $7.3 million in total benefits over three years, across the enterprise:

• Strengthened Security ($1.6M in Value): By eliminating the risk of phishing, the composite organization of 5,000 employees drastically reduced the likelihood of a successful credential-based breach.
• Enhanced End-User Experience ($2.2M in Value): Users authenticated 80% faster with YubiKeys compared to legacy MFA. Additionally, the move to phishing-resistant MFA allowed the organization to simplify password policies, saving each user an average of 30 minutes per quarterly update.
• Operational Efficiency ($1.7M in Savings): The organization saved $912,000 in security and IAM labor by avoiding attack investigations. An additional $476,000 was saved in help desk costs by eliminating password-reset tickets and $321,000 saved from retired legacy MFA costs
• Business Growth ($1.9M in Value): Stronger security improved brand reputation and trust, helping the organization meet strict customer security requirements and win new business.

When Forrester asked a director of information technology and cybersecurity for the government about the financial impact of YubiKeys for their organization, they said: “YubiKeys are a fiscally responsible way to increase your cybersecurity posture.” Additionally, when asked about the working relationship, senior manager, cybersecurity for telecom services stated, “Yubico is easy to work with. They had the ability to deliver at the scale and velocity we needed.”

Streamlined Enterprise Deployment with YubiKeys: The Path to Passwordless and Zero Trust

Beyond financial gains, the study noted that YubiKeys serve as a foundational element for organizations moving toward a Zero Trust architecture. By supporting multiple protocols — including FIDO2/WebAuthn, smart card (PIV), and OTP — YubiKeys provide the flexibility needed to secure diverse environments ranging from legacy systems to modern cloud applications.

“Our CEO stated that we are going to be 100% phishing resistant and passwordless. We had to look for what could help us achieve passwordless for the full employee lifecycle and what was 100% phishing resistant. The only solution that fit the bill was YubiKeys,” said a Principal Identity Engineer at a technology firm interviewed for the study.

To help organizations achieve these results quickly and more seamlessly, Yubico offers a comprehensive suite of enterprise services including YubiKey as a Service, a subscription model that shifts capital expenditures to predictable operating expenditures. As a one-stop solution to deploy and manage YubiKey, YubiKey as a Service enables IT teams to use a new Self-Service Ordering capability to empower end users to directly order YubiKeys and have them shipped to an address of their choice. Exclusively as part of this service, Yubico delivers a range of enrollment and delivery options to a global, distributed workforce — accelerating the time to value and significantly lowering overall cost.

For more information and to download the full Forrester TEI study, visit here.

Additionally, Yubico will be conducting a Webinar featuring Forrester on February 24 to hear a breakdown of the Forrester TEI survey and what this means for organizations exploring and deploying YubiKeys in their organization. Register here.

About Yubico

Yubico (Nasdaq Stockholm: YUBICO) is a modern cybersecurity company on a mission to make the internet safer for everyone. As the inventor of the YubiKey, we set the gold standard for modern phishing-resistant, hardware-backed authentication, stopping account takeovers and making secure login simple.

Since 2007, we’ve helped shape global authentication standards, co-created FIDO2, WebAuthn, and FIDO U2F, and introduced the original passkey. Today, our passkey technology secures people and organizations in over 160 countries — transforming how digital identity is protected from onboarding to account recovery.

Trusted by the world’s most security-conscious brands, governments, and institutions, YubiKeys work out of the box with hundreds of apps and services, delivering fast, passwordless access without friction or compromise.

We believe strong security should never be out of reach. Through our philanthropic initiative, Secure it Forward, we donate YubiKeys to nonprofits supporting at-risk communities.

Dual-headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and Santa Clara, California, Yubico is proud to be recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Learn more at www.yubico.com.

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