Microsoft is officially rolling out Passkeys to users of Windows,
Android, and iOS. The functionality, a replacement of traditional password,
was first launched by Microsoft for Windows last year.
Passkeys have been readily adopted by companies like Apple, Google,
and others with the purpose of making it easy to sign into Gmail, iCloud, and
other services. With Microsoft’s Passkeys, you can sign into a Microsoft
account on an app or website, without having to type out a password.
To sign in with a Microsoft Passkey using a device, you can choose your personal authentication method like your face, fingerprint, PIN, or a security key. When you create your Passkey, two different keys are generated: one that is stored by the Microsoft website / app, and another being a private key that is stored on your device used for the authentication.
Passkeys work across multiple devices, which means that in
case of having your device stolen or broken, you can have a backup to prevent losing
your Passkey.
Currently, support for Passkey is only available on Microsoft’s
websites on desktop and mobile browsers, and it will arrive on Microsoft’s apps
in the coming weeks, as confirmed by the corporate vice president of Microsoft
security, Vasu Jakkal.
In the past, Microsoft has experimented with other authentication
methods too in place of passwords. The company first launched Windows Hello
authentication with Windows 10 in 2015, using which you could sign in to a PC
with your face, fingerprint, or a PIN. Microsoft then launched support for FIDO
security keys in 2018. However, Passkey is Microsoft’s first password-less authentication
option.
