What if Google imagined the future of its users without passwords? 🔐

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A few hours before World Password Day, celebrated every May 6, Google announces a major new feature: support for passkeys within Google accounts.

What are Google Passkeys? 🔑

So far, the company had already integrated passkeys on Chrome. Indeed, for several months now, tech companies have been working on a standard to remove passkeys, and their research is starting to bear fruit.

This is a brand new feature that you can already test. Passkeys will eventually replace passwords to log in to applications and websites. Google presents these passkeys as easier to use but also more secure than passwords.

Basically, these keys will allow you to connect to a website in the same way as you unlock your cell phone with the same options as :

• A fingerprint,
• a face scan
• or a PIN code to unlock the screen.

These options are more secure since the user will not be tempted to use the same password on all the sites where he registers, or to use the name of his pet or other. As we all know, these are real flaws in computer security.

In short, passkeys are a more secure alternative to using a password or double authentication, which are more susceptible to phishing and other scams. These access keys are not stored by Google, and remain available only on the device in question.

How to set up an access key for your Google Account?

To use an access key as a way to connect to your Google Account, it’s very simple:

• Go to the following link from the device you want to use as an access key: g.co/passkeys .  Fill in your login details (email address of the account in question and traditional password),
• An Access Keys page will appear, click on the Create Access Key button,

• In the tab that opens, press Continue, then Continue again,

• Identify yourself using facial recognition, fingerprint, or your device PIN,
• Press OK to confirm the creation of the access key.

Note: If you have created an access key from your cell phone, and you want to log in to your Google Account from a computer, it is possible:

• After entering your email address to log in
• Then click on Try another method,
• Then click on « Use an access key.
• In the tab that opens, choose Use a phone or a tablet,
• Scan the QR code that appears, with your mobile.
• You will then be able to identify yourself via your biometric data (or your PIN code).

With this new authentication method, you won’t need to remember your 15-character passwords, 2 uppercase, 3 numbers, 5 special signs…😅 And who knows, maybe May 6 will mark the last World Password Day? What do you think about it?

Source : Google