Passkey technology rolled out by Google

From Thursday some Google accounts will be able to use passkey technology.

This could mean an end to passwords as the passkey is designed to use fingerprint or facial ID, a pin on the device you use to authenticate your Google account.

Apple users can use Passkey with iOS16 and it will also be available on the latest MacOS release.

Microsoft has been using it through its Authenticator app.

A passkey can be created for each device a user has, or the operating system or app that manages the passkeys can be shared between devices.

There is a cryptographic private key stored on the device and a public key uploaded to Google.

When the user signs into their account the device solves a unique challenge using the private key to generate a signature. The signature is then verified by using the public key which allows the person to access their account.

Passkey, Google has said will prevent the use of phishing, SIM-swap and other methods used to obtain passwords and bypass authentication. This is because the private key and the biometrics used are never shared.

The passkey technology has been rolled out on World Password Day and they say it signifies “the beginning of the end” for passwords used for Google accounts.

However, the technology won’t be rolled out to everyone just yet as the technology is still in its early stages.