Unseen Money 15—Why passkeys won’t take off

Tech firms and governments are pushing passkeys as a replacement for online passwords.They argue that using passkeys will help cut down on fraud, prevent account takeovers and protect against password theft.But Paul Amery and Timur Yunusov are sceptical that passkeys will take off. Listen to the latest episode of Unseen Money from New Money Review to find out why.Here’s what we discuss in the podcast:(0’ 45”) why we need to get rid of passwords(2’ 35”) safer and less safe ways of using passwords(3’ 05”) password management practices(4’ 10”) what is a passkey?(6’ 10”) how passkeys replace reliance on a password with reliance on a trusted device(7’ 10”) what if we are trying to use our phones less?(8’ 00”) using your laptop as an alternative(8’ 20”) hardware devices to store your passkey(10’ 00”) passkeys won’t protect you against state surveillance or a kidnapper(12’ 20”) passkeys are only as secure as the surrounding infrastructure(13’ 00”) what happens if you lose the trusted device?(14’ 20”) unresolved questions regarding lost passkeys(14’ 50”) Paul’s unhappy experience setting up passkeys(15’ 50”) why financial institutions lag in introducing passkeys(16’ 50”) Timur’s survey of security research on passkeys(18’ 10”) where is the weakest link in the passkey enrolment chain?(19’ 30”) why Timur is sceptical of tech firms’ invitations to enrol passkeys(21’ 00”) who’s pushing passkeys and why?(22’ 30”) why some friction in online transactions is a good thing(23’ 30”) why Timur would not use a web browser passkey to access a bank account(27’ 30”) why large-scale passkey adoption is still far away(28’ 30”) passkey technology could be imposed