Passkeys are set to take over from traditional passwords to give us a safer and more secure way of logging into our online accounts. This will be a major step forward for online security, and it is gathering pace quickly with more and more big names adopting the technology. You might be asking “well how long will it be before we can say goodbye to passwords?”.

Passkeys have long been supported by the FIDO alliance – an organisation of big tech companies that include Apple, Google and Microsoft. This is in the hope that passkeys could eventually kill off passwords completely.

These big tech brands are already rolling out passkeys on some of their applications, but now, some of the big names in password management software are getting in on the act too. This is likely to speed things up even further.

If you haven’t heard of passkeys before, they work by creating and storing credentials on your phone, which only you can access. These are called private keys and they are authenticated by the biometrics you use to log in to that device. This is things such as your fingerprint or your phones facial recognition system.

When you log into an account, the site will create a public key which then requests your private key. Your matching passkey gives you access to your account, just like a password.

Password managers let you create and store complex passwords, meaning you always have a strong and unique password that is unguessable for every site. The adoption of passkeys by a growing number or traditional password managers is likely to accelerate the move. We have spent years implementing strong passwords and we are unlikely to miss them when they are gone.

Any move towards stronger security is always welcome and we do not think it will be too long before most online accounts are using passkeys. If you would like any help in keeping your business secure in 2023, get in touch today!

Published with permission from Your Tech Updates.