Microsoft is taking a bold step forward in digital security with the introduction of passkeys for consumer accounts. This move could bring a significant change to the way traditional passwords are used and open up a new era of online...

According to a blog post written by Vasu Jakkal, Vice President of Security, Compliance, Identity and Management at Microsoft and Joy Chik, President of Identity & Network Access, Microsoft has been anticipating the possibility of a password-free world for ten years. Each year, on the occasion of World Password Day, they report on their progress towards password elimination. Now they've announced support for a security key for Microsoft consumer accounts, bringing us closer to a vision of simple and secure access.

Windows Hello

Since the launch of Windows Hello and Windows Hello for Business in 2015, which enabled secure access to Windows 10 without a password, identity systems have detected around 115 password attacks per second. Less than a decade later, that number has increased by 3,378% and now more than 4,000 password attacks are detected every second. The popularity of password attacks stems from the fact that they continue to be effective. Clearly, passwords alone are not enough to protect our online lives.

Security keys

The good news is that we have made significant progress towards putting passwords in the past tense. For a while now, you can log in to apps and websites without a password using FIDO security keys, Windows Hello or the Microsoft Authenticator app. And now here's an even better way to sign in without a password: security keys.

In response to this by clicking on the link create passkeys for your Microsoft account, and choose a face, fingerprint, PIN or security key if you want to sign in with a device using the passkey.

With security keys, you don't need to create, manage, remember and enter passwords, but can access your digital accounts in the same way you unlock your device - usually with your face, fingerprint or device PIN. More and more apps and services support security keys; you can now use them to log in with even the most popular ones. Security keys are so much simpler and more secure than passwords that we predict security keys will almost completely replace passwords (and we hope that will happen soon).

The introduction of the use of a security key for your Microsoft account means that you can now access your Microsoft account with your face, fingerprint or device PIN on Windows, Google and Apple platforms. The security key gives you quick and easy access to the Microsoft services you use every day, and protects your account from malicious attacks much better than your password.

The full post on the Microsoft Security Blog available at.