ORLANDO, FL (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Each year, there are over 111 million hackings in the US. Most happen because of weak passwords. At the end of 2022, Google and Apple decided to update their phone and web browsers to use passkey technology to see if this could prevent more cyberattacks. Learn how to gain more insight on the differences between passwords and passkeys, and how to keep your devices safe.
Every 39 seconds, someone is a victim of a cyberattack. It is believed that passwords have become weaker security since hackers have become more advanced. Now, passkeys might be our best bet for privacy. But do you know the difference between passwords and passkeys?
David Zambri, Chief Information Security Officer at University of Central Florida explains, “A passkey is a software token that’s on your device. So, you still have something you have to have, which is your phone, and it’s enabled with biometrics, like touch ID or face ID.”
To see a demo of how passkeys work, go to webauthn.io, type in a fake username, press ‘register,’ then ‘continue’ to save the passkey. Then, to actually use the passkey you just created, press ‘authenticate’ and ‘continue.’ Then, it will scan your fingerprint or face, and you’re done!
Zambri says that passkeys are better for protection, but it’s not available everywhere yet. So, for the time being … “What I would recommend is a good username and password, and when I say, ‘a good password,’ it should be a long password and it should be generated by a password generator.”
Zambri also says that until passkeys are on all platforms, you can safely secure your log-in information to your accounts in an encrypted document on your device.
Contributors to this news report include: Adahlia Thomas, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer and Editor.
Sources:
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Passkey-vs-password-What-is-the-difference
https://spectrum-mgmt.com/blog/from-the-wall-street-journal-hate-passwords-its-time-to-try-passkeys/
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