Big tech businesses recommend passkeys as a more secure and user-friendly replacement to regular passwords. Microsoft hails passkeys as the future of authentication, claiming they eliminate the need for "complex" password design and the inconvenience of remembering (or storing) them.
Google added passkey functionality in 2022, coinciding with World Password Day. Now the business is showcasing how far authentication technology has progressed and where it is headed. According to the search engine giant, passkeys have been used as an authentication mechanism over 1 billion times across 400 million+ Google accounts.
Google emphasizes how passkeys are resistant to phishing because they rely on fingerprints, facial scans, or PINs for user verification. They are 50% faster than passwords and are presently the most popular authentication mechanism for Google accounts when compared to "legacy" technologies like SMS-based one-time passwords (OTP) or app-based OTPs.
Google's strongest security solution, the Advanced Protection Program, will soon include support for passkeys. APP was created to protect high-risk users such as campaign workers and candidates, journalists, human rights activists, and others. The authentication technique often requires a hardware security key as a second factor, although it will soon include passkeys.
APP support for passkeys will be important for this year's elections, Google stated.
Another big step forward for passkey usage is the ability of third-party password suppliers to use Google's passkey management APIs on Android and other OS systems. Popular password managers, such as Dashlane and 1Password, can now handle passkeys, which is an essential improvement that gives users greater power and allows them to store passkeys on security keys.
The technology sector is showing strong support for passkey-based authentication, and Google's list of partners continues to increase. In barely a year, early users of the technology (eBay, Uber, PayPal, WhatsApp) were joined by Amazon, 1Password, Dashlane, DocuSign, Kayak, Mercari, Shopify, and Yahoo Japan.
In discussing how the technology works, Google indicated that passkeys will replace passwords, essentially resolving the numerous challenges brought to the industry by passwords' inherent vulnerability. Google anticipates that passkeys will replace more advanced security methods such as multi-factor authentication, SMS messaging, and authentication mobile apps.
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