Nowadays, it is critical to ensure the safety of your online accounts as never before. Hackers are ever devising new methods of stealing your personal details and thus the programs we use to keep us safe should also be advanced. Over the years, our online accounts have been secured using passwords. However, today there is a new and more intelligent way: passkeys.

This article will tell you what passkeys are, how they work, why they are more secure than passwords (particularly Google accounts), and what the future of password-less existence may hold.

How Traditional Passwords Have Been Defeated by Passkeys?

We can begin with what we are all familiar with; passwords. You likely have used them on all the apps or websites you have ever logged in. They are a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols typically. The issue is, they are forgetful and even stealing is easy. Cyber criminals may fool you into revealing your password via a phishing email or they might grab it in a database security breach by a company.

Imagine you never need to remember another password. That is where passkeys come into play.

Passkey is a digital key that is saved on your computer or phone. You do not have to type anything in. Instead, your device verifies that it is actually you when you log in to a web site: with your fingerprint, face scan, or a small PIN. This is safer, simpler and quicker.

How Passkeys Work with Gmail (Google Accounts)?

Recently, Google allowed using passkeys to log in to your account. Here is the trick:

Passkey: The Passwordless Authentication
You start by entering your email address as you would do normally.
Instead of typing your password, Google will ask you to confirm your identity on your device using your fingerprint, face or PIN.
There, that is all there is to it--you are in!
Even when you have your passkey saved on another device (say, your phone), Google can show a QR code on your computer screen. You just need to scan it with your phone and you are in. It does not need the internet because the devices uses Bluetooth connection to connect and communicate with one another.
This not only makes the logging in process quicker but also much more secure.

Passkeys Make Passwords Obsolete—Here’s Why

Passkeys address most of the issues that render passwords insecure:

No More Phishing: Phishing occurs when you are fooled to type in your password in a bogus site. However, passkeys cannot be used on the wrong site, even one that appears authentic, since they are linked to the genuine site address. This implies that hackers will not be able to steal your log in information through pretending sites.

No Database Hacks: Passwords are vulnerable to theft through hacking of a particular website, where they are stored. Passkeys are saved on your device (your phone) only, and they are encrypted (locked and unreadable). Hacked websites: even in this case, your passkey remains secure.

No Guessing: There are cases where hackers attempt to enter passwords by software that makes attempts at various combinations. Passkeys are complicated to guess as they are strongly encrypted.

No Reuse Problems: Most individuals apply a single password in many accounts. Hacking one account means that the rest are vulnerable. Each account and each website has different passkeys, and as a result, they cannot be reused or stolen en masse.

Why Aren’t Passkeys Everywhere Yet?

Although passkeys are superior, not all websites have adopted them yet. A couple of reasons would be:

• They are not yet supported on all websites: Passkeys are already supported by big companies such as Google, PayPal, and PlayStation, but smaller websites are yet to follow.
• They are not familiar to people: We have all been dealing with passwords since ages and to adopt a new method seems confusing.
• Cross-device problems: Previously, a passkey on other device types (such as Android and iPhone) was problematic. However, today, there are such tools as Google Password Manager or apps, such as 1Password, that can share passkeys across all your devices.

The Future: No More Passwords - Here’s Why!

The move by tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft is towards a future in which we do not use passwords at all. Websites are beginning to support passkeys, and they are collaborating to make them simpler to use.

A more convenient method to keep decent on the web is Passkeys. There is nothing to remember. You need not be afraid of phishing emails. And you will not be locked out because you have forgotten a complicated password.

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