Technology

59323 readers

4666 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

503

Big Tech passkey implementations are a trap | Proton (proton.me)

submitted 7 months ago by AnActOfCreation@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world

221 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Big Tech has implemented passkeys in a way that locks users into their platforms rather than providing universal security
Passkeys were developed to replace passwords for better account security, but their rollout by Apple and Google has limited their potential
Proton Pass offers passkeys that are universal, easy to use, and available to everyone for improved online security and privacy.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It depends on the passkey type (resident vs non-resident keys)

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 4 points 7 months ago

Right, now I remember reading about that, I forgot.

[–] hydration9806@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Passkey = Resident Key

Nonresident keys are not passkeys, they are solely a second form of authentication meaning the service you are logging into still requires a password.

[–] Spotlight7573@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Couldn't a site theoretically use a nonresident key with just a username, in place of a password?

This seems to imply it might be possible:

https://developers.yubico.com/WebAuthn/WebAuthn_Developer_Guide/Resident_Keys.html

Discoverable Credential means that the private key and associated metadata is stored in persistent memory on the authenticator, instead of encrypted and stored on the relying party server. If the credentials were stored on the server, then the server would need to return that to the authenticator before the authenticator could decrypt and use it. This would mean that the user would need to provide a username to identify which credential to provide, and usually also a password to verify their identity.

[–] hydration9806@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

For sure, but that still isn't a passkey. The method you are talking about is the equivalent of non-passphrase protected SSH protocol, which is a single form of authentication (i.e. if someone has your security key they have your account).

The term passkey implies MFA: having a physical key and a password, a physical key and a fingerprint scan, or equivalent.

Sure the username could be considered the password, but usernames are not designed to be protected the same way. For example, they typically are stored in clear text in a services database, so one databreach and it's over.