Passkeys Improve Authentication Security, But Do Not Eliminate Identity Risk

The Problem with Passwords

Passwords have been a persistent weakness in cybersecurity for decades. Users often forget, reuse, or share them, making them vulnerable to phishing, credential stuffing, and social engineering attacks. Attackers frequently steal credentials, leading to widespread security breaches.

How Passkeys Work

Passkeys aim to eliminate these problems by replacing shared secrets with cryptographic credentials based on public-key cryptography. This means there is no password for an attacker to steal, intercept via phishing, or reuse across services. Authentication is bound to the legitimate service, making passkeys inherently phishing-resistant.

Unlike traditional authentication methods that transmit reusable secrets, passkeys keep a private cryptographic key on the user's device, while the service holds the corresponding public key. The private key is never transmitted during authentication, offering protection against phishing, credential stuffing, and password database theft.

Improvements Over Traditional MFA

Traditional multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods, such as one-time passcodes or SMS messages, are stronger than passwords alone but remain vulnerable to phishing, adversary-in-the-middle attacks, MFA fatigue, and SIM swapping. Passkeys fundamentally change this model by not relying on reusable secrets, thus mitigating many of these vulnerabilities. They also improve usability by removing the need for users to remember complex passwords or repeatedly retrieve authentication codes.

Authentication vs. Identity

While passkeys significantly strengthen authentication, they do not eliminate broader identity risks. Successful passkey authentication confirms that a credential associated with an account completed the process, but it does not verify if the account was legitimately established, if the underlying identity has been compromised, or if the device itself is trustworthy. An attacker could still operate through an authenticated session even with strong authentication.

Organizations should adopt passkeys to improve authentication security, but they must also recognize that stronger authentication is only one component of a comprehensive identity security strategy. The focus needs to extend beyond just successful login to encompass the integrity of the identity itself.