Yubico has launched YubiNation Partners, a new global channel program aimed at uniting security specialists as organisations face a sharp rise in AI-driven cyber threats.

The company says the initiative is designed to shift partners beyond a traditional reseller role and into trusted advisory positions, helping customers adopt phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication.

With the average corporate data breach now costing about $4.4 million and phishing still a leading attack method, Yubico argues passwords can no longer carry the load.

Yubico cited a 2026 Total Economic Impact study by Forrester Consulting that it commissioned. The study found customers who replaced traditional MFA and one-time passwords with YubiKeys achieved 265% ROI and cut breach-risk exposure from addressable attacks by 99.99%.

Yubico said YubiNation Partners will act as a growth engine for its ecosystem, supporting partners to deploy phishing-resistant MFA at scale and accelerate passwordless rollouts across customer environments.

“With YubiNation Partners, Yubico is embracing a Partner-first strategy, moving beyond traditional resale to build a dedicated community of security experts who are shaping the future of digital identity,” said Bettina Vahl, Vice President of Global Channels at Yubico.

“This program is built to turn our partners into true trusted advisors, giving them the innovation, speed and scale they need to help customers go passwordless and stay secure everywhere.”

Welcome to YubiNation Partners: Built to Accelerate Partner Success at Scale

The new program features four distinct partnership tiers specifically designed to recognise technical expertise, investment, and collaboration. Each tier unlocks deeper enablement and benefits:
 

• Bronze (Building the Foundation): Focuses on rapid enablement through the Yubico Academy and authorised distributors to help teams deliver value immediately.
  
  
• Silver (Expanding Impact): Unlocks lead sharing, and co-sell support for opportunities involving 200+ users.
  
  
• Gold (Accelerating at Scale): Receives priority access to Market Development Funds (MDF), a dedicated go-to-market team, and a Not-for-Resale (NFR) allocation of up to 25 keys per quarter to support technical readiness.
  
  
• Platinum (Leading the Way): Strongest deal incentives, services leads, direct access to MDF, invitations to exclusive strategic events and business planning sessions, and an NFR allocation of up to 50 keys per quarter.

Yubico Academy: The destination spot for effective Channel enablement

Over the past year, Yubico has significantly expanded the Yubico Academy to support roles across our partner ecosystem: 100-series (Essentials), 200-series (Sales), and 300-series (Technical Sales), including completing a proof of concept with a 4th level of certification, the 400-series focused on Professional Services. 

After incorporating feedback from partners worldwide, today Yubico is also making the 400-series available to Platinum and Gold tier partners. 

This program reinforces the mission to treat partners as an extension of Yubico’s team and strengthens the partner networks’ ability to streamline our customers’ path to phishing-resistance.

It also allows partners to leverage their expertise in a wider array of solutions to deliver additional Professional Services that ultimately enable customer success.

“The feedback from both my colleagues and I regarding the new Professional Services certifications has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly concerning the specialised vendor modules,” said Felix Brand, CISSP and cybersecurity architect at Germany-based Yubico partner, SVA,”

“This structured approach provided a highly targeted experience that directly aligns with the unique needs and strengths of each individual consulting partner.” said Brand.

Innovating for the Future of Identity

YubiNation Partners is built to help trusted advisors capture demand in a fast-moving market. Currently, over 30% of the Fortune 500 and 18 of the top 20 AI companies rely on YubiKeys to secure their workforces.

By joining YubiNation, channel partners can leverage this brand authority to shorten sales cycles, drive recurring revenue and shape the future of securing digital identity.

The program creates a unified ecosystem where partners can advise, build and resell, supported by tailored enablement and campaign kits that drive measurable impact.

“We see Yubico’s updated channel program as a strong step forward in supporting strategic partners like Zones.” said Jake Pederson, director software, cloud and security alliances at Zones

“The investments in enablement, tiering, and services alignment position us to drive greater impact together in the identity security market,” said Pederson

“By elevating partner certifications and Professional Services integration, the program empowers Zones to differentiate through technical expertise and end-to-end delivery excellence at global scale.” he said.