Passwords Are Dead. Long Live Passkeys.
Okay, maybe the era of passwords isn’t completely over…yet. Still, lots of people and businesses in the tech world and elsewhere are moving away from passwords, and toward passkeys. We thought we’d dedicate some content to unpacking some of the reasons why passkeys might make sense for you.
When you explore today’s industry standards for authenticating accounts, passkeys are an easier, more secure way to go than passwords.
Known as a cryptographic entity, a passkey isn’t actually visible to you. It’s not a password, but consists of what’s known as a key pair. When you compare the way passkeys work vs. how passwords work, the first thing you come away with is the fact that they are much more secure.
What’s a key pair?
As the phrase suggests, there are two keys at play, a public key, and a private one. This is an essential element of how passkeys work, and why they’re so secure.
The public key is registered with the website you’re on, or the app you’re currently using.
The private key “lives” on your device.
Thanks to the latest cryptography techniques, the key pair works together to create a strong and extremely secure relationship between your device, and whatever website or app you’re on.
Passkeys are not hacker friendly
Passkeys do a great job saving you from worrying about hackers, and even data breaches. For instance, when you use your passkeys, the public key remains with the website or app you’re on. Even if that site experiences a data breach (and we know how often this happens), only the public key is compromised. Your private key remains safe. The same cannot be said of traditional passwords.
Many prominent services are already using passkeys.
This article on Apple Insider lays out a good argument for using passkeys, including integrating passkeys with iOS 16 and mac OS Ventura. As the article points out, many services are moving toward passkeys, including eBay, GoDaddy, PayPal and others.
If you have questions about making the switch, reach out to Brightstone at any time. We’re happy to walk you through various updates and changes, and talk about what it means for device management, security, business workflow and more.