291
submitted 1 year ago by Tibert@jlai.lu to c/technology@lemmy.world

Passkey is some sort of specific unique key to a device allowing to use a pin on a device instead of the password. But which won't work on another device.

Now I don't know if that key can be stolen or not, or if it's really more secure or not, as people have really unsecure pins.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] thesmokingman@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

I missed the part where I said I don’t trust Google. You seemed to have ignored everything of substance in my response, namely putting a password on the passkey doesn’t remove passwords and the extension of things like FIDO2 beyond web auth.

[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I didn't ignore it, I said you need to read up on the basics.

Protecting a private key with a password is totally different than authenticating with a password and you don't see to understand that difference.

[-] thesmokingman@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

It doesn’t get rid of passwords, which is what I said when I said it was a disingenuous claim. It just moves the attack surface, like I said before. You haven’t bothered to demonstrate even a passable understanding of my original comment and the security issues I raised as a security professional because you appear to want to dunk on me. I’ve been having this conversation for years so sorry not interested.

[-] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 year ago

That suggestion up thread to read up on how webauthn/CTAP2/FIDO2 works?

It’s a good suggestion. I would take it.

[-] thesmokingman@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago

I don’t think you know what an attack surface is.

[-] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago

I do. What part in particular worries you?

[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Sorry, you're just wrong. It does get rid of passwords as the authentication mechanism and replaces it with a private key.

Claiming otherwise is being ignorant on how it works.

Even if someone knows the password to your phone or yubikey, they still need your phone or yubikey. Knowing just the password is useless. If you are a security professional, you would know this is called a possession factor.

If you've been having this conversation for years, you really ought to know better.

[-] thesmokingman@programming.dev -1 points 1 year ago

I don’t think you understand what an attack surface is.

[-] alvvayson@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Lol. I guess you learned a word from the CEH you flunked.

Edit: but yes, passkeys greatly reduce the attack surface compared to a password.

And when using a properly hardened device like a yubikey, you can actually minimize your attack surface to as low as it's ever going to be in a web context.

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
291 points (98.0% liked)

Technology

59598 readers
4583 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS