Google struck yet another nail in the coffin for passwords on Tuesday, announcing that passkeys will be the default login option for its personal accounts.
Users will notice a request to generate and utilize a passkey — commonly a face scan, fingerprint, or PIN — as well as the “Skip password when possible” option enabled in their account settings when they login in to their personal accounts.
While passkeys are an important breakthrough in biometric authentication systems, Google will allow users to disable them by disabling the skip password setting.
Passkeys are 40% faster to use than passwords and rely on a type of encryption that makes them more secure, according to a corporate blog authored by Google Senior Product Manager Sriram Karra and Group Product Manager Christiaan Brand.
According to the pair, Google discovered that one of the most immediate benefits of passkeys is that they relieve individuals of the burden of memorizing all those digits and special characters in passwords. Passkeys are also immune to phishing, they added.
“Google’s announcement today officially making passkeys the default login is another milestone on the journey toward a truly password-free systems future,” said Steve Won, chief product officer of 1Password, a Toronto-based password management software manufacturer.
“Billions of users can now live without passwords with arguably their most important login, removing the most common vector for security breaches — stolen credentials,” he said in an interview.
Passkey Adoption Needle Movement
According to Tony Goulding, a cybersecurity evangelist at Delinea, a provider of privileged access management solutions in Redwood City, Calif., Google’s choice will move the needle on passkey use.
“In my view,” according to “Google’s decision represents the most promising initiative yet — albeit, building on the foundation laid by FIDO2, which has been around for some time — to finally achieve the dream of a ‘passwordless’ future.”
“Given how many people use Google services, this will definitely move the needle for publicly accessible applications,” said Ron Arden, CTO and COO of Fasoo, a Bethesda, Md.-based supplier of business data protection solutions.
“Most large enterprises use MFA [multi-factor authentication] already, but need to move beyond MFA tied to passwords,” he said in an interview. “This may drive the market faster, making companies move faster.”
Passwordless solutions are being used by both businesses and consumers in a variety of industries, according to Ricardo Amper, founder and CEO of Incode Technologies, a worldwide identity verification and biometric identification firm. “Google’s policy change underscores the growing demand for seamless and highly secure authentication methods,” he said in a statement.
“This transition from traditional passwords empowers individuals to take greater control of their data,” he went on to say, “especially in response to the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.”
Passwords are becoming scarce.
According to Eduardo Azanza, CEO of Veridas, a worldwide biometric identity and authentication solution provider located in Madrid, traditional password methods have been demonstrated time and again to fail, since massive amounts of credentials are stolen every day.
“As the digital threat landscape evolves, cybersecurity and online practices must evolve with it,Therefore, the move by Google to set passkeys as the default sign-in credential is a strong message that we are moving toward a passwordless future.”
Passkeys offer additional advantage in addition to being more handy and secure. “Passkeys solve one of today’s untold problems — we’ve finally run out of passwords,” commented Ben Chappell, CEO of Apona Security, a Roseville, California-based application security firm.
“I’ve personally run through hundreds of passwords in my professional life”. “Like most users, it’s to the point where I struggle to create a new password, much less remember it.”
“The move by Google is far overdue and will greatly increase adoption of passkeys over passwords,” he said in a statement.