What does Yubico’s new channel program mean for APAC partners?

YubiNation is Yubico’s newly announced global Channel program designed to unite a community of security experts.

Yubico recently launched its new global channel program which it believes will enable partners to become trust advisors for the cybersecurity vendor. The YubiNation channel program is designed to not just unite a community of security experts but also see partners cultivate a safer digital world for their customers, making identities private and secure.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, with AI-powered threats now becoming a greater concern for organizations globally, Yubico believes partners play a key role in ensuring companies are not just able to have better cybersecurity but also transform their security, especially when it comes to managing identities.

The YubiNation Partners program enables this for partners as it transforms the traditional reseller model into a strategic engine for growth, empowering partners to deliver the gold standard in phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA) and help customers go passwordless at speed and scale.

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

“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,” Vahl said.

With digital identity evolving rapidly, especially in the face of AI and with both human and digital identities becoming intertwined, Vahl believes that this shift increases the importance of strong authentication as a foundational cornerstone of trust.

“Our partners and customers can expect continued innovation from Yubico in hardware-backed authentication and passkey adoption, and simplifying the end-users’ experience to authorize digital actions,” Vahl explained.

Accelerating partner success at scale

Taking a deeper look at the new program, there will be four distinct partnership tiers specifically designed to recognize technical expertise, investment, and collaboration. Each tier unlocks deeper enablement and benefits. The Bronze tier focuses on rapid enablement through the Yubico Academy and authorized distributors to help teams deliver value immediately while the Silver tier unlocks lead sharing, and co-sell support for opportunities involving 200+ users.

The Gold tier partners will receive 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. Lastly, the Platinum tier will see partners get 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.

To ensure partners are well enabled to deliver, Yubico has significantly expanded the Yubico Academy to support roles across our partner ecosystem. Yubico is also making the 400-series in the Academy 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.

Yubico also stated that existing partners will be automatically placed into one of the four program tiers based on current criteria, such as revenue growth and Yubico Academy certifications completed. For new partners looking to advance their security mission and join the YubiNation community, they can submit a Partner Application starting today on the Yubico website or through their local Yubico distributor.

Impact on APAC partners

Speaking to CRN Asia, Vahl explained that Yubico’s ongoing evolution of YubiNation Partners will introduce enhanced resources, initiatives, and support to boost partners' success with Yubico in the APAC region as well.

“A key focus will be enabling partners to build recurring revenue, primarily through our YubiKey as a Service offering (available in select APAC markets). The program will serve to empower partners with the resources needed to develop robust professional services capabilities around Yubico products,” Vahl said.

For existing Yubico partners in the region, Vahl shared that these partners can expect a more structured and transparent framework through the YubiNation Partners tiering model, which recognizes factors such as expertise, collaboration, and performance. Vahl explained that each tier progressively enables deeper support and enablement, including access to training via Yubico Academy, co-sell support for qualified opportunities, market development resources, and dedicated engagement such as exclusive strategic events and planning sessions.

“The program is designed to strengthen our partners’ ability to deliver phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication and support customers in moving away from passwords and legacy authentication methods. By providing clearer pathways and additional resources, it enables partners to scale their capabilities, enhance technical readiness, and better support customers navigating today’s evolving threat landscape,” Vahl added.

Expanding the partner ecosystem in APAC

With the APAC region remaining a key growth region for Yubico, for both customer demand and partner engagement, Vahl said that expanding the regional partner ecosystem remains a strategic priority, particularly as organizations across industries strengthen identity security to meet regulatory requirements and defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

“Additionally, the establishment of our new global headquarters in Singapore, in addition to our existing headquarters in Stockholm and Santa Clara, reflects a long-term commitment to the region and our intention to invest more deeply in local partnerships - marking a new phase, where Yubico will expand our existing APAC team and deepen relationships with strategic regional partners,” Vahl said.

For Vahl, a stronger local and regional presence allows Yubico to provide faster technical support, more tailored enablement, and closer collaboration with partners on joint market initiatives.

“We’re committed to strengthening the value of our partner resources across the region by focusing more on creating localized content. Our key focus is working with partners across APAC who bring strong technical and local expertise, industry specialization, and professional services capabilities, and we see substantial opportunity to grow our ecosystem as regional demand for phishing-resistant authentication solutions continues to rise,” Vahl concluded.