this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 month ago (6 children)

There's been a lot of pain in the attempt to portray it as "Just click the passkey button, and that's it! Your login is secured for life!"

No - Buddy. It is secured for this one specific device that I have biometric authentication for. What about my computer? What about my other computer that isn't on the same operating system? I have a password manager that stores these things, why didn't you save to that when I registered? Why is it trying to take this shit from my Apple Keychain when it's in Bitwarden?

And, the next ultra-big step: How would a non-techie figure this shit out?

[–] lmmarsano 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For some people it is that easy.

When it is saved to a cross-platform password manager, it is secured on all devices that password manager runs on including your computer on other operating systems. You can also choose other in the OS prompt & redirect to a device with your passkey or use a hardware security key (I don't). If your preferred password manager isn't the primary one on all your devices, then fix that or use the other option mentioned before.

How would a non-techie figure this shit out?

The same way they figure out passwords & multifactor. Their pain isn't ours for those who've figured this out & have a smooth experience.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mentioned Bitwarden in my comment, and my frustration specifically comes from occasions that I had Account X ready in Bitwarden, started up an app that relied on Account X, but loaded an HTML login page that had no discernable controls to use that Bitwarden passkey; expecting entirely for it to exist in my Apple keychain, which I never use.

I think it's very easy to claim this specific app / account was not implementing passkeys well. But if that's the case, how can I guarantee any other accounts I move over won't fuck it up somewhere? I haven't seen anyone get the concept of passwords wrong, and even if they don't understand how managers work, I have control of the copy-paste function and can even type a password myself if needed.

[–] lmmarsano 1 points 1 month ago

loaded an HTML login page that had no discernable controls to use that Bitwarden passkey; expecting entirely for it to exist in my Apple keychain, which I never use

I use Bitwarden, yet not macOS/iOS. Whenever a passkey dialog from the wrong authenticator comes up, I choose option other to redirect to a device running Bitwarden: I see macOS & iOS offer similar controls. However, Bitwarden's passkey dialog (section with links to configuring that) usually pops up, so that isn't necessary.

But if that’s the case, how can I guarantee any other accounts I move over won’t fuck it up somewhere?

Save a recovery code in Bitwarden (add field type hidden named Recovery code to the login entry)? That's standard practice for me, though I've never needed them.

I haven’t seen anyone get the concept of passwords wrong

I have control of the copy-paste function and can even type a password myself if needed

I've seen forms disable paste. Much can go wrong with passwords. Passwords require sharing & transmitting a secret (a symmetric key), which either party can fail to secure. Passkeys, however, never transmit secrets. Instead, they transmit challenges using asymmetric cryptography. The application can't fail to secure a secret it never has. Far more secure, and less to go wrong.

The password field is a more manual, error prone user interface. With passkeys/WebAuthn, you instead supply a key that isn't transmitted: easier than passwords when setup correctly, & nothing to do until it's setup correctly.

Similar situation with ssh: though it can accept passwords, ssh key authentication is way nicer & more secure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I use both Bitwarden and Apple's native Passwords.app and just save a passkey for each app. Usually you can name the passkey on the website/in the app as well.
This is also the system I use when saving 2FA TOTP codes as well so I guess I'm used to it, but it makes good sense to me to have reduncancy in my password apps. Also I lock up *the apps themselves* with passkeys in the respective app for ease of use.
:mastozany:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

And, the next ultra-big step: How would a non-techie figure this shit out?

They don't have a computer, another computer with a different OS, or bitwarden.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

And, the next ultra-big step: How would a non-techie figure this shit out?

They wouldn't, because the people calling the shots in the tech world create UX with a focus on it sucking for everyone

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I have my passkeys saved in 1password. (With a yubikey as backup for important things).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

This was roughly the state of affairs before but the state of things have relented where software password managers are now allowed to serve the purpose.

So if a hardened security guy wants to only use his dedicated hardware token with registering backups, that's possible.

If a layman wants to use Google password manager to just take care of it, that's fine too.

Also much in between, using a phone instead of a yubikey like, using an offline password manager, etc.