Say goodbye to password headaches and hello to a safer digital future with passkeys. In this video, we explore the limitations of traditional passwords and introduce passkeys as a faster, safer, and easier alternative. With multi-factor authentication by design, resistance to phishing scams, and seamless integration with biometric technology, passkeys offer a simple and secure sign-in experience for users and organizations alike.
The future of signing in
If you’re like many people, you probably still use passwords to sign in to most of your websites and apps, most likely from multiple devices. This can translate into hundreds of passwords to remember, unless you use a password manager. With passkeys, instead of creating, managing, remembering, and entering passwords, you access your digital accounts the same way you unlock your device—usually with your face, fingerprint, or device PIN. More and more apps and services are adding support for passkeys; you can already use them to sign in to the most popular ones. Passkeys are so much easier and more secure than passwords that we predict passkeys will replace passwords almost entirely (and we hope this happens soon).
Easier and more secure than passwords
Think of how many times and places you sign in with a password every single day. Is it 10? 50? Not only is this a frustrating experience, it’s also an unreliable way to protect a digital account. Here’s why: When you enter a password to sign in to an account, you’re essentially sharing a secret with the website or app to prove that you should have access to the account. The problem is that anyone who gets a hold of this secret can gain access to your account, and if your password gets compromised and appears on the dark web, the repercussions can be serious.
How passkeys work
Passkeys work differently than passwords. Instead of a single, vulnerable secret, passkey access uses two unique keys, known as a cryptographic key pair. One key is stored safely on your device, guarded by your biometrics or PIN. The other key stays with the app or website for which you create the passkey. You need both parts of the key pair to sign in, just as you need both your key and the bank’s key to get into your safety deposit box.
Because this key pair combination is unique, your passkey will only work on the website or app you created it for, so you can’t be tricked into signing in to a malicious look-alike website. This is why we say that passkeys are “phishing-resistant.”
Even better, all the goodness and strength of cryptographic authentication stays behind the scenes. All you have to do to sign in is use your device unlock gesture: look into your device camera, press your finger on a fingerprint reader, or enter your PIN. Neither your biometric information nor your PIN ever leaves your device and they never get shared with the site or service you’re signing in to. Passkeys can also sync between your devices, so if you lose or upgrade your device, your passkeys will be ready and waiting for you when you set up your new one.
The best part about passkeys is that you’ll never need to worry about creating, forgetting, or resetting passwords ever again.
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