In addition to the major three technology firms supporting passkeys - Apple, Google and Microsoft - third-party password providers, such as 1Password and Bitwarden, implemented their own support for managing the credentials.
Overall, more than 7 billion accounts could be using passkeys, according to the FIDO Alliance, whose technical specifications power the authentication standard.
The whole point of passkeys is to make passwordless authentication as convenient and as secure as passwords, says Andrew Shikiar, executive director of the FIDO Alliance.
Different ecosystems - such as Apple, Bitwarden, Google, 1Password or Microsoft - manage passkeys in different ways - but all support standardized passkeys.
Google, which by default now asks users if they want to use passkeys, has not released data on the number of accounts that have opted into using the technology, but does say that 60% of users believe passkeys are easier to use than traditional login methods.
A Passel of Passkeys The first question that users should consider is whether they want to consolidate their keys under a single ecosystem or provider.
Users of Google Chrome can use the password capabilities of the browser across different platforms to manage passkeys by signing into their Google account.
1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, Enpass, and LastPass all support - or are working on support for - passkeys through their application and browser extensions, which will allow passkeys to be accessed across major device types and makes of browser.
Using a single ecosystem can make passkeys simpler for the user, especially when it comes to the critical issue of key recovery.
Generating a passkey for Google on the Chrome browser using Apple's iCloud Keychain to store the passkeys.
Creating a Passkey: Google Account Using Chrome For personal Google accounts, or if you are the administrator of Google Workspace accounts, you can set up passkeys for your users.
Google supports setting up passkeys on Windows 10 and up, MacOS Ventura and later, or ChromeOS 109 and up, although recommends that users update to the most current version of their operating system.
Creating a Passkey: Microsoft 365 on Windows Microsoft's passwordless technology is a little less integrated than Google's or Apple's passkey support.
On Windows, logging into a site using passkeys through Windows Hello is seamless with passkeys handled in the background.
To manage passkeys on Windows, go to Settings -> Accounts -> Passkey settings.
Creating a Passkey: PayPal on 1Password for Apple Apple users can manage their passkeys through iCloud Keychain, which synchronizes across all Apple platforms.
For users of the 1Password password manager, for example, passkeys are now integrated into the information for each account and easily accessible from a browser extension.
By allowing passkeys to be synchronized through their cloud infrastructure, the companies can provide account recovery services - as can third-party providers, such as 1Password and others.
Some passkey service providers allow the backing up of keys - such as the iCloud Keychain - to a security device, such as a hardware token.
Passkeys users should run through the mental exercise of recovering their critical cloud accounts in the case of a lost device to ensure that they understand the process and know all the information necessary for recovery.
This Cyber News was published on www.darkreading.com. Publication date: Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:05:04 +0000