Passkeys do marginally improve security against MITM and phishing attacks, but they are primarily for protecting the lowest common denominator from themselves: people who re-use passwords and/or don't use a password manager.
If you use multiple devices throughout the day, registering passkeys in all of these systems becomes a big headache with O(m*n) complexity, so putting the passkeys in a password manager is the only realistic solution. But this still breaks the login flow for a very common use case: how do I log in on a device that I don't own? With a password in a password manager I at least have the option of manually typing the password.
The biggest problem, though, is how users are pushed into it without any warning or knowledge of what they're signing up for. I've accidentally set up passkeys just by clicking an okay button a few times in the past and had to go back and figure out how to undo it after being blocked from login on another computer (which computer was I on again?).
> how do I log in on a device that I don't own?
Sad reality is that such usecase is less and less common, thus, no one cares about it. I think majority of my friends would not be able to access their email, or facebook or alike, if they were forced to use my computer in emergency.
And that sounds fine, until you're traveling and your devices get stolen or lost. How, exactly, are you going to get into your email then, once passkeys become the only means of login? Because that moment is when you really do need to access your email, stat.
What services implement it like this? Don't services usually implement passkeys as a more secure alternative to a password, but password login is still available?
Some sites allow passkeys as an option for MFA, so that could be an issue if the passkey is your only MFA option and MFA is required. But I imagine email would pretty much always be a fallback.
And not even that, now that I think about it. I have my very long Bitwarden password memorized but if my devices are all stolen I won't be able to get passed the 2-factor, so I'd still be screwed.
drtz · · focus · HN ↗
If you use multiple devices throughout the day, registering passkeys in all of these systems becomes a big headache with O(m*n) complexity, so putting the passkeys in a password manager is the only realistic solution. But this still breaks the login flow for a very common use case: how do I log in on a device that I don't own? With a password in a password manager I at least have the option of manually typing the password.
The biggest problem, though, is how users are pushed into it without any warning or knowledge of what they're signing up for. I've accidentally set up passkeys just by clicking an okay button a few times in the past and had to go back and figure out how to undo it after being blocked from login on another computer (which computer was I on again?).
mystifyingpoi · · focus · HN ↗
Sad reality is that such usecase is less and less common, thus, no one cares about it. I think majority of my friends would not be able to access their email, or facebook or alike, if they were forced to use my computer in emergency.
epihelix · · focus · HN ↗
jayknight · · focus · HN ↗
Some sites allow passkeys as an option for MFA, so that could be an issue if the passkey is your only MFA option and MFA is required. But I imagine email would pretty much always be a fallback.
basch · · focus · HN ↗
mrweasel · · focus · HN ↗
mahboi · · focus · HN ↗
MrMetlHed · · focus · HN ↗