To my surprise, the key was already there. I didn’t notice until I accessed g.co/passkeys, which is a shortcut to /signinoptions/passkeys, the page Google has installed for managing account passkeys. This primer instead uses a mix of devices and OSes-specifically a Pixel 7, an iPhone 13, a ninth-generation iPad, a ThinkPad running Windows 10, and a MacBook Air-with the goal of at least touching on the basic workings of all of them.īy the time I woke up on Wednesday-the day Google rolled out passwordless Google accounts-my Pixel 7 already had a passkey automatically created. There’s no way to list step-by-step instructions for all platforms in one article. The way a person who primarily uses Android and Linux logs in will look different and use a different flow than a person who uses all Apple platforms or a person who uses iOS or Android with Windows. Advertisementįurther Reading Passwordless Google accounts are here-you can now switch to passkey-onlyGoogle account passkeys support enough platforms that there’s no single way to use them. The private key never leaves the trusted user devices, except as an E2EE blob synced through one of the big three or, soon, a third party such as 1Password. The private key resides on the device and can only be accessed by unlocking the device using either a unlock PIN, a fingerprint or face scan. This means that the private key is unknown to the cloud provider. The FIDO specs require that whatever syncing mechanism a user elects (be it from Apple, Microsoft, Google, or a third party) it provide end-to-end encryption the way iCloud Keychain and password syncing with browsers currently do (on Chrome, the E2EE password syncing must be turned on). And platform vendors have worked together within the FIDO Alliance to make sure that passkey implementations are compatible cross-platform and can work on as many devices as possible. This makes passkeys very strong, easy to use credentials that are highly phishing-resistant. No shared secret is transmitted, and the server does not need to protect the public key. On Apple devices with Touch ID or Face ID available, they can be used to authorize use of the passkey, which then authenticates the user to the app or website. The server never learns what the private key is. The other key is private, and is what is needed to actually sign in. One of these keys is public, and is stored on the server. These keys are generated by the device, securely and uniquely, for every account. During account registration, the operating system creates a unique cryptographic key pair to associate with an account for the app or website. Passkeys are built on the WebAuthentication (or "WebAuthn") standard, which uses public key cryptography. Apple provides a helpful description here of the technical underpinnings of passkeys: Google is the first major online service to make passkeys available, and its offering is refined and comprehensive enough that I’m recommending people turn them on today.įirst, it helps to know exactly what a passkey is and how it works. A handful of smaller sites-specifically, PayPal, Instacart, Best Buy, Kayak, Robinhood, Shop Pay, and Cardpointers-have rolled out various options for logging in with passkeys, but those choices are more proofs of concept than working solutions. This article provides a primer to get people started with Google's implementation of passkeys and explains the technical underpinnings that make them a much easier and more effective way to protect against account takeovers. Passkeys are also vastly more secure and privacy-preserving than passwords, for reasons I'll explain later. The long and short of it is that with a few minutes of training, passkeys are easier to use than passwords, and in a matter of months-once a dozen or so industry partners finish rolling out the remaining pieces-using passkeys will be easier still. That’s not surprising, given that passwords have been in use for the past 60 years, and passkeys are so new. There are many misconceptions about passkeys, both in terms of their usability and the security and privacy benefits they offer compared with current authentication methods. This alternative for passwords is known as "passkeys." Aurich Lawson | Getty Images reader comments 1064 withīy now, you’ve likely heard that passwordless Google accounts have finally arrived.
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