4 digital identity vendors talk up their passkey efforts

It is getting harder to avoid knowledge about passkeys. This week alone, four vendors including Meta announced passkey capabilities in their products.

Biometrics-backed passkeys – a nascent security movement — can make passwords obsolete, taking some portion of phishing attacks with them. They are being integrated with major operating systems including ChromeOS, Android, iOS, macOS and Windows.

Google product managers said in a post that the company is starting an open beta test of passkeys involving 9 million organizations. Those organizations can let their users sign on to Google‘s Workspace and Cloud services without passwords.

Users will be able to sign in using screen-lock methods including fingerprint and face biometrics. Passkeys also can be used in two-step verification.

The company is “gradually enabling passkeys for users and controls for Workspace administrators over the next few weeks,” according to the post. The managers did not specify how many people will participate in the beta, which organizations have signed up, how long the beta is expected to run or what metrics of success it is using.

Meanwhile, executives with password manager NordPass say they are making their passkey available for mobile apps, probably in the fall. They also are planning a passwordless login to NordPass products. Last, they say they are working on software to help online companies integrate support of passkey authentication.

Password authenticator Keeper Security has likewise jumped into the fray with support for passkeys in its browser extension, which will save them. The company says its software enables passkeys to be shared.

Keeper’s support on Android will wait for release 14, due before the end of the year. But Keeper says that Apple is not yet supporting third-party password managers with passkeys.

Finally (or at least so far), 1Password executives say they have started to support passkeys.

It has launched beta extension projects for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave. At the same time, 1Password subscribers using macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux will be able to view, edit, move, share and deleted passkeys made with 1Password software.

Article Topics

1Password  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  Google  |  Keeper Security  |  NordPass  |  passkeys  |  passwordless authentication