Yubico a leading provider of hardware authentication security keys, has seen a sharp increase in demand for YubiKeys from Australian public schools following a recent cyber incident.
The incident has triggered a renewed focus across the education sector, as schools return for the new school year, on the risks associated with account-based attacks—particularly those targeting large identity systems with long-lived credentials and inactive user accounts that often go unmanaged.
“Education systems are prime targets because they manage vast numbers of user accounts containing sensitive data, many of which remain active long after students leave,” said Geoff Schomburgk, vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan at Yubico.
“The start of the school year is a timely reminder that passwords alone are no longer sufficient, especially when inactive accounts can be exploited as entry points.” he said.
YubiKeys passkeys use hardware-based authentication that cannot be phished, replayed or intercepted, even if login credentials are compromised.
The approach is increasingly being adopted across government, critical infrastructure and education environments to reduce the risk of account takeover and is strongly recommended by the Australian Cyber Security Centre under its Essential Eight guidelines.
“Phishing-resistant authentication closes off an entire class of attacks,” said Schomburgk. “It protects both active users and dormant accounts, which are often the weakest link in large education environments.”
Yubico works with governments, enterprises and education providers globally to secure digital identities and protect users from credential-based cyber threats, with growing interest from schools seeking practical, scalable ways to harden student and staff access at the beginning of each academic year.
In the first quarter of 2025, Yubico recorded net sales of US$57.33 million, up from US$45.9 million in Q1 2024—a year-over-year increase of 24.9%.
Over the trailing twelve months in 2025, the company reported revenue of approximately US$0.23 billion, reflecting 4.55% growth on the previous year.
