Human beings have a ton of capabilities they can take great pride in, but if we are being honest, our crowning jewel is the tendency that pushes us to get better on a consistent basis. This particular tendency has fetched us some huge milestones so far, with technology appearing as a unique member of the stated group. The reason why technology’s credentials are so anomalous is largely down to its skill-set, which was unprecedented enough to usher us towards a reality that we couldn’t have imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, a closer look would reveal how the whole runner was also predicated upon the way we applied those skills across a real-world setting. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. This revolution would scale up the human experience from every conceivable direction, but despite all brlliance, technology has continued to suffer from some serious shortcomings, and one such shortcoming relates to cybersecurity. You see, in the process of making us smarter than ever before, the creation also made us pretty vulnerable. This has only gotten worse over time, but it seems like a shift in the horizons is finally on the cards, at least that’s what we can gauge from Google’s latest move.
Google is officially rolling out support for passkey login to Android and Chrome. In case you are not familiar with the concept, passkey is basically a system where you can use your phone or your computer’s built-in authentication capabilities to log into a website rather than having to rely upon those traditional passwords. All you need to do is verify your identity to the device once, and then it just stores up that information for the purpose of creating a seamless login experience. However, it’s not just a more convenient alternative, but it also offers far greater security. To contextualize the statement, we must look at how a password can be easily stolen and reused across multiple sites. Passkey, on the other hand, doesn’t face such a problem, as it leverages the increased protection that a hardware authentication system brings to the table.
Another notable feature in play here talks to the flexible nature of passkeys. This means that, with the stated system, you can also use your phone to sign into other nearby devices. So, even if your computer doesn’t have a fingerprint reader required for verification, you can just the one in your phone to do the job.
Coming back to Google’s latest announcement, web developers can build support for passkey login on sites they operate by using the WebAuthn API and testing on the Chrome Canary browser or the Google Play Services beta program.
Now, while Google surely seems headed towards a passwordless future, it is not, by any means, the first company to do so. In fact, Apple’s Safari browser and macOS have been using this feature for some time. Beyond Apple, we also have few other popular platforms, such as Dropbox and Best Buy, that are using passkeys, but they are a few miles from making it a core piece. Hence, Google’s decision to enter the fray here can very well give the technology’s fortunes a massive boost.
“Google remains committed to a world where users can choose where their passwords, and now passkeys, are stored,” Google said. “Today is another important milestone, but our work is not done.”