Your passwords keep your money, your job and your identity safe. But you hate them, and they’re flawed. Apple Inc. AAPL -2.79%▼ is trying to get rid of them entirely.
When Apple’s latest software updates for iPhones, iPads and Macs arrive this fall, they will include a way for users to log into various online accounts without entering passwords or relying on password managers to save and fill in credentials. The technology generates unique passkeys for each app or browser-based service in the place of characters. Those passkeys, a new type of identity authentication, prompt a scan of your face or fingerprints to log you in.
Passwords have been the longtime standard for securing online accounts, but they pose security risks. Despite expert advice to create complex, unique passwords for every account, people often use the same password, get tricked into signing into fake websites that log their information, or have their account details leaked in data breaches. Password managers beef up security, but if someone gets your master password, they can access all your logins.
Apple’s passkeys—and similar efforts from other technology giants—want to address those problems and replace passwords entirely. They aim to be easier and more secure than passwords of old, Darin Adler, Apple’s vice president of internet technologies, said last week at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Each passkey is unique, so there’s no re-use of passwords. Passkeys can be used on non-Apple devices, and for both new and old accounts. Your private keys are stored on your devices—not on the servers of Apple or the app or website developers—so hackers gaining access to those servers wouldn’t find any passkeys to steal. They are also resistant to phishing since there’s no password to share.
“Passkeys are heavily obfuscated by the operating system,” said Ondrej Krehel, head of digital forensics and incident response at cybersecurity monitoring platform SecurityScorecard. “This will deter most cybercriminals, because attackers wouldn’t get anything usable.”
www.wsj.com
When Apple’s latest software updates for iPhones, iPads and Macs arrive this fall, they will include a way for users to log into various online accounts without entering passwords or relying on password managers to save and fill in credentials. The technology generates unique passkeys for each app or browser-based service in the place of characters. Those passkeys, a new type of identity authentication, prompt a scan of your face or fingerprints to log you in.
Passwords have been the longtime standard for securing online accounts, but they pose security risks. Despite expert advice to create complex, unique passwords for every account, people often use the same password, get tricked into signing into fake websites that log their information, or have their account details leaked in data breaches. Password managers beef up security, but if someone gets your master password, they can access all your logins.
Apple’s passkeys—and similar efforts from other technology giants—want to address those problems and replace passwords entirely. They aim to be easier and more secure than passwords of old, Darin Adler, Apple’s vice president of internet technologies, said last week at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Each passkey is unique, so there’s no re-use of passwords. Passkeys can be used on non-Apple devices, and for both new and old accounts. Your private keys are stored on your devices—not on the servers of Apple or the app or website developers—so hackers gaining access to those servers wouldn’t find any passkeys to steal. They are also resistant to phishing since there’s no password to share.
“Passkeys are heavily obfuscated by the operating system,” said Ondrej Krehel, head of digital forensics and incident response at cybersecurity monitoring platform SecurityScorecard. “This will deter most cybercriminals, because attackers wouldn’t get anything usable.”
Apple Wants to End Passwords for Everything. Here’s How It Would Work.
Goodbye, complex, hard-to-remember passwords. Hello, logging in with your face and fingerprints.
www.wsj.com
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