What is Passkey technology? How can it be activated on your phone?
Remember the hassle of remembering dozens of complex passwords, which required a combination of letters, numbers and special characters? Tired of constantly resetting passwords after repeated hacks or forgetting the password? Those days seem to be gone! It’s time to get rid of this annoying burden, as the new Passkey technology offers us innovative and secure solutions to log in to our online accounts.
Imagine a world where you don’t need to remember any passwords, but can access your accounts with just the touch of a finger on your mobile device or a quick glance at the camera using your face print. These are not just distant dreams, they are now available and game-changing technologies in the field of information security.
password complexity
Of course we all know that there is no account on any social networking site or email that does not need a complex password. The password consists of about 8 characters or more, and these characters contain uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers, which makes them very complex. In order to set passwords for all your personal accounts, you must either memorize the passwords, which is considered difficult and confusing, or make all your personal accounts with the same password, and the result will be completely unsatisfactory if you are hacked or the unified password is accessed, then all your data will be at risk.
What is Passkey technology?
The Passkey feature has recently appeared , and it has appeared to facilitate the process of saving passwords by canceling passwords. Passkey is a modern and advanced technology to log in to accounts and applications more securely and easily, instead of using traditional passwords that we may forget or be hacked. You can log in to your personal account using your fingerprint, face, or phone password.
Steps to activate Passkey on Android
The Passkey activation method differs for both Android and iOS. Let's start first with the activation steps for Android:
- Enable Passkeys : Go to Settings > Security & privacy > Passwords, passkeys & autofill . Choose your preferred password manager and enable Passkeys.
- Create a passkey : When you sign in to a site or app that supports passkeys, select the “ Use a passkey ” option. Follow the on-screen instructions, which usually involve scanning your fingerprint or using facial recognition.
- Use Passkey : The next time you want to sign in to the same site or app, choose the “Use Passkey” option again, and you’ll be automatically signed in using the biometrics (fingerprint and face) you registered.
Steps to activate Passkey on iOS
- Enable Passkeys : Go to Settings > Passwords . Make sure Passkeys is enabled.
- Create a passkey : When you sign in to a site or app that supports passkeys, select Use Passkey . Follow the onscreen instructions, which usually involve using Face ID or Touch ID.
- Use a passkey : The next time you want to sign in to the same site or app, choose the “Use a passkey” option again, and you’ll automatically be signed in with Face ID or Touch ID.
Passkey works in a unique way, when you create a Passkey, it records all the accounts that you have synced on your phone, and when you create another new account, you do not have to create a password, as Passkey will create complex passwords and save them, so you only have to put your fingerprint to open the application or account.
What companies support Passkey?
You can create a Passkey through some providers of this service such as Samsung Pass , Google Key , and through Apple's iCloud.
Passkey advantages.
- Powerful Protection : Passkey provides powerful protection against threats like phishing. You can use it to sign in to your Google Account and verify your identity when making sensitive changes.
- More secure than passwords : Unlike passwords, Passkey can only exist on your devices and cannot be accidentally written down or transferred to unauthorized parties.
- Save time : Once you create a Passkey , you can use it to easily sign in to your Google Account and to some third-party apps or services.
How dangerous are Passkeys?
There has been a lot of news about MacStealer being used in cybercrime, but there are no reports of its widespread use or even its existence confirmed yet, only allegations.
But even so, this is an early beta program that comes in the form of a standard DMG file, and the end user is safe unless they tamper with macOS security settings, as this file must be installed manually because it is not a digital signature, and even then the victim must enter their iCloud password from within the app after installing it before the data can be extracted.
According to security firm Uptycs, which discovered the MacStealer announcement, there's no reason people should be so concerned about it. If the malware is a threat, it's not just Passkeys, but everything else that hundreds of millions of people already store in iCloud Keychain.
Concerns about sync services.
Even if you don't trust any cloud sync method for that, the FIDO (Finding Dot) standard allows for the use of so-called single-device passkeys, which work for one device only and don't sync with any service, and are usually created using a FIDO2 security key like Yubikey.
But if you use a browser to sync passwords or any password manager (like iCloud Keychain or Google Key) then you should know that this is basically done using data sync, and if you don't trust cloud services to sync Passkeys, then you shouldn't trust them to sync passwords at all, it's the same.
If I change the phone, will my Passkey not transfer?
When sites and apps sync to trusted devices from another trusted device, this is done using an E2EE dataset, which is end-to-end encrypted data. The details of how this dataset behaves vary from platform to platform, and these platforms will likely issue documentation about the details of the encryption used to protect PassKey data.
Can I recover my Passkey if I lose my phone?
For people who use more than one device to log into a single account, the key will be on those devices, but even if the lost device is the only one with a PassKey, or if all devices are lost, it is possible to simply log in with the password. If you have account recovery codes, you can also regain access through them.
Finally, long and complex passwords are a thing of the past. With Passkey , you can now skip the hassle of remembering passwords and rely on more secure means of accessing your online accounts. Whether you use your fingerprint, facial recognition, or your phone password, Passkey makes logging in easier and more secure. Let’s live in a world where we don’t need to remember passwords, and enjoy the security and convenience of accessing our personal accounts.