Passwords are a form of knowledge-based authentication. For a user to prove they are who they claim to be, they need a secret — the password — that has been previously stored by the service. Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a technique designed to strengthen the authentication process by adding possession-based authentication to knowledge-based authentication. A service can only authenticate a user when they prove they have knowledge of the shared secret in addition to something they have or are. Eliminating shared secrets removes the intrinsic weakness of password-based authentication and MFA. A secure form of possession-based authentication is the best alternative. Passwordless authentication based on FIDO standards is considered the archetype. FIDO passwordless authentication is based on public-key cryptography.
More FIDO in the News
Microsoft Blog: Microsoft introduces passkeys for consumer accounts
Ten years ago, Microsoft envisioned a bold future: a world free of passwords. Every year,…
ZDNet: Two years in, Google says passkeys now protect more than 400 million accounts
Google Account users have authenticated themselves using passkeys more than 1 billion times, but passwords…
Google Blog: Passkeys, cross-account protection and new ways we’re protecting your accounts
For World Password Day, we’re sharing updates to passkeys across our products and sharing more…
