GOOGLE has revealed a list of apps that support a new hack-busting alternative to passwords.
They’re called passkeys and give you bonus protections that regular passwords just don’t offer.
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Google and Apple are both pushing them for Android and iPhone respectively, as they can massively improve your online security with very little effort.
Unlike passwords, passkeys can’t be guessed or leaked, and you don’t have to remember them either.
The big downside is that not all apps support passkeys as they’re still very new – but that’s changing fast.
“Since we launched passkeys we’ve seen our list of partners grow, strengthening security for people across platforms,” Google explained.
Some of the passkey-supporting apps named by Google include:
- Amazon
- 1Password
- Dashlane
- Docusign
- Kayak
- Mecari
- Shopify
- Yahoo! Japan
- eBay
- Uber
- PayPal
If you use any of those apps, it’s worth setting up passkeys as soon as possible.
Google says that people are already flocking to use passkeys around the world.
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“In less than a year, passkeys have been used to authenticate people more than 1 billion times across over 400 million Google Accounts,” the search engine giant noted.
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WHAT IS A PASSKEY?
A passkey is a way of signing in to an account.
Instead of a password, you use a fingerprint scanner, face scanner, or a screen lock.
Behind the scenes, a passkey is a pair of cryptographic keys that are specific to websites.
Google’s list of passkey benefits
Here’s the official list…
- You won’t have to remember a sequence of letters, numbers, and characters.
- You can sign into accounts with fingerprint or facial recognition technology.
- You can use passkeys across different operating systems and browser ecosystems, and with both websites and apps.
- Passkeys are strong enough to never be guessed or reused, making them safe from hacker attempts.
- Passkeys are connected to the app or website they were created for, so you can never be tricked into using your passkey to sign in to a fraudulent app or website.
- Passkeys from Google Password Manager are available across all Android apps.
Half will be shared with the website and the other is stored on your device (or inside a password manager).
“Passkeys are easy to use and phishing resistant, only relying on a fingerprint, face scan or a pin making them 50% faster than passwords,” Google explained.
It means you can sign in safely and quickly without worrying about forgetting a password – or having your log-in leaked online.
HOW TO USE PASSKEYS
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Usually if apps or websites support passkeys, they’ll flag it to you during sign up.
But if you’ve already got a log-in, you should be able to find an option to set up passkeys inside the app’s security settings.
Then your Android or iPhone will guide you through setting a passkey up and linking it to a fingerprint sensor or Face ID, for example.
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If you’re trying to sign in on a device like a laptop that doesn’t have these features, you can scan a QR code on the log-in page using your phone to enter with a passkey.
Google says that more than 400 million of its accounts have now used passkeys.
