STOCKHOLM and PALO ALTO, Calif., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Yubico, a leading provider of easy and secure login solutions, today announces the company's innovative authentication token YubiKey is now available to increase security for Windows Azure platform applications.

The Windows Azure Platform is a massively scalable and cost-effective cloud platform that enables customers to build, host and dynamically scale applications and services through the Microsoft data centers around the world.

Windows Azure based solutions can easily integrate with the YubiKey two-factor authentication service for increased security in a very cost-effective and flexible way. 'YubiKey Azure Authentication' is a project recently published on Codeplex, the Microsoft open source community that shows how to integrate YubiKey based authentication in a service running in Windows Azure using the standard ASP.NET membership provider and SQL Azure as the user store back-end.

The YubiKey simplifies the process of logging in with a One-Time Password (OTP) token as it does not require the user to re-type long pass codes from a display device into the login field of the computer. The YubiKey is inserted in the USB port of any computer and the OTP is generated and automatically entered with a simple touch of a button on the YubiKey, and without the need of any client software or drivers. The rugged, ultra-thin, battery-free, crush safe and waterproof design has also been fundamental to the success of the YubiKey, currently used by over 10,000 customers globally.

"Being able to integrate solutions for two-factor authentication is becoming increasingly more important as customers move their existing assets to the cloud or build new services with a higher demand for security," says Robert Folkesson, Architect in the Developer and platform group, Microsoft Sweden.

About Microsoft Windows Azure: www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/  

About Yubico: www.yubico.com

SOURCE Yubico