In recent months, FIDO has taken a series of important steps to bring the demise of ciphers closer to reality. In March, FIDO announced that it had found a way to store encryption keys that were synced across people’s devices, calling them “multi-device FIDO credentials” or “passwords.”
It was followed by Apple, Microsoft and Google. statement Their support for the FIDO standard. Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, said adopting these standards will keep more people safe online. At the time, the three tech giants said they would begin rolling out the technology “in the coming year.” Microsoft account owners have been able to have given up their passwords since last Septemberwhile Google has been working on Passwordless technology since 2008.
When all tech companies roll out their version of the key, the system should work across different devices – in theory, you can log into a Windows laptop with an iPhone, or log into Microsoft Edge with an Android tablet website. “All of FIDO’s specifications are co-developed with the participation of hundreds of companies,” said Andrew Shikiar, executive director of the FIDO Alliance. Shikiar confirmed that Apple was the first company to start rolling out cryptographic technology, saying it showed “that this approach will soon have an impact on consumers around the world.”
Any success in a passwordless future depends on how it works in reality.Currently, there are unanswered question What happens to your passwords if you want to give up Apple’s ecosystem for Android or other platforms. (Apple has not responded to our request for comment.) Developers still need to make changes to their apps and websites to use Passkey. Also, in order to gain trust in any system, one needs to understand how it works. “Any viable solution has to be more secure, easier and faster than passwords and traditional multi-factor authentication methods in use today,” Alex Simmons, Microsoft’s head of identity management efforts, said in May. In short: if cross-device systems are clunky or painful to use, people may avoid them in favor of weak but convenient passwords.
While Apple’s Passkey and its counterparts from Google and Microsoft are still a few months away (at least), that doesn’t mean you should keep using weak or duplicate passwords. Every password you use (whether it’s a one-time account for DIY supplies or your Facebook account) should be strong and unique. Do not use common phrases, the names of friends or pets, or personal information about you in your passwords.
Instead, your password should be long and strong. The best way to do this is to use a password manager, which can help you create and store better passwords. You can find our picks for the best password managers here. When you think about security, enable multi-factor authentication for as many accounts as possible.
