Ebay, Shopify, Google, and Paypal (US only): They’ll do it all. Using passkeys. A passkey makes it a lot safer and easier for the user to log in. You no longer have to remember a password and enter it everywhere. Here’s what passkeys are exactly and what you can do with them.
Passkeys
Passkeys are a fairly new, innovative way to log in. No password is required as the device you are using is already your key. Useful, for example, to use a smartphone as a Passkey, because you always have it at hand and it has many different biometric methods available to identify that you are who you say you are.
Passkeys are a means to go through life without a password. The idea is that the device on which you use a certain app can automatically log in with your account, because you unlock your phone with your biometric data such as your fingerprint or your face (with Face ID, for example). The reason that this can be used at more and more companies is that it is a consortium that is behind these passkeys. Think of it as the companies that are now collaborating to get the Matter smart home standard there, but for making login more universal (and more secure).
Microsoft, Google, Apple
That alliance is called the FIDO alliance and has existed for ten years. It wants us to be less dependent on passwords and the passkey is the answer to that. At least: it is not an ultimate answer: there are advantages and disadvantages to this new technology. Apple ended up being the first to come up with it, which is quite unusual considering that Apple usually doesn’t let the cat out of the tree. Anyway, it’s here now, and soon Google, Microsoft and other companies followed suit. The technology works in such a way that some kind of authenticator must give access, and with passkeys that is your face or your fingerprint. So you do not enter an account on a website by entering an email address and password: you enter the website (or actually: your account) via your device.
Why passkeys are rated positively is because they remove the hassle of forgetting passwords. You don’t have to think about the most bizarre and difficult passwords, you don’t have to change them, you don’t have to remember them. Phishers will also be less able to strike: soon you will -hopefully- never have to enter an email address and password anywhere again. Passkeys will not work on a phishing site because they require real certificates.
Advantages and disadvantages passkeys
But it also has problems: if you don’t have access to your phone, you can also write that passkey on your stomach. Then it all becomes very difficult to get login details and access to an account. It is also somewhat more difficult for companies to help people with login problems, in addition to the fact that someone who has your fingerprint scanned in your sleep, for example, immediately has access to absolutely everything. So there are certainly hurdles, but for now many companies take them for granted and feed them. And with it the users too, because more and more people are using it.
