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Tech giants team up to get rid of passwords

2022-05-05T20:34:02.308Z


Google, Apple and Microsoft have pledged to do away with passwords within twelve months. Smartphones will retain these credentials


This Thursday was International Password Day (#WorldPasswordDay), you probably didn't know it.

But this May 5, Google, Apple and Microsoft announced the end of an ordeal.

Within a year, a common system should make it possible to authenticate without having to memorize a series of cabalistic signs to access emails, bank accounts or open apps.

Since 2012, players in the sector have been working on the subject.

“With the new feature, consumers will be able to authenticate to websites and mobile apps easily, password-free and securely, regardless of device or operating system,” FIDO summarized. Alliance (Fast Identity Online Alliance) in a press release.

The first step on the journey to #passwordless is to use LESS #passwords.

“Less Passwords Day” doesn't roll off the tongue as well as “World Password Day,” but it certainly is a day worth celebrating!

🎉 https://t.co/A4LUQG8c8t pic.twitter.com/kxll8RuRa9

— The FIDO Alliance (@FIDOAlliance) May 5, 2022

The objective, explains Google, is that users can connect to an online service simply by unlocking their smartphone (using their usual method: fingerprint, facial recognition, multi-digit code, etc.) Concretely, a website can ask the Internet user if he wants to "authenticate with his FIDO credentials".

This message will appear simultaneously on his phone, where the user will just need to accept, by unlocking his screen, to be connected to the site.

Smartphones will keep these coded identifiers, called “passkey” (access key).

Passwords lead to hacks and identity theft

The three technology giants have committed to implementing this new system within twelve months, on Android and iOS (the mobile operating systems of Google and Apple), on Chrome, Edge and Safari (the browsers of Google, Microsoft and Apple) and on Windows and macOS (the Microsoft and Apple operating systems for computers).

"Password-only authentication is one of the most significant security issues on the web," Apple notes in its statement.

Unable to manage so many different passwords, individuals often reuse the same one, which facilitates account takeovers, data leaks and identity theft.

“The new approach will protect against phishing, and logging into a service will be radically safer than passwords and other technologies like one-time codes sent via text message,” adds the iPhone maker.

On the Apple side, the most likely would be integration into iOS 16 and macOS 13, according to MacGeneration.

Alex Simons, vice president of Microsoft, spoke in the FIDO Alliance press release of a “complete transition to a world without passwords” where “consumers would get into the habit of going without them on a daily basis”.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2022-05-05

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