this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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My point is that I'm not worried about the relatively few people who could steal my fingerprint. I'm worried about the millions of people around the world who will try to steal my passwords and access my online accounts.
If everyone secured their accounts with a biometrically secured security key, they would be far more secure than if they continue to just use a password.
Tgose who go around spreading misinformed FUD over biometrics ensure people who don't know better continue to use weak passwords.
Even if someone gets your fingerprints from the OPM breach still can't use them because they also need your phone. You are still protected from all of the hackers around the world.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/how-to-go-passwordless-with-your-microsoft-account-674ce301-3574-4387-a93d-916751764c43
https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-password/
https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/12/apple-passkey/
Incorrect because your bio is not the password, the private key is. The private key is revocable. Your bio just unlocks your hardware key store and makes the private key accessible to the software.
This is what I mean when I say people do not understand biometric authentication.
Windows Hello didn't. The hardware wasn't implemented correctly allowing the authentication to be bypassed. You misunderstood the issue here
They sync the public key with iCloud, not the private key. You misunderstood how it works.
There is no "keys deep" there is a public/private key pair that authenticates a single device with a single account. You have misunderstood how a local key store works.
Which means someone trying to access my account requires physical access to my device. Passwords, no matter how strong leave you open to remote attack.
Open the authencator app and remove the account. Or uninstall the authenticator app. Or delete your local phone account. Or factory reset if you want to go nuclear.
Alternatively if you lost your phone, go to the account online. Browse to the security section and delete the device from the list. Most services have the ability to sign out remotely. All that's doing is revoking the key. The phone doesn't have to do anything. The fact you think something needs change in the "blob" shows you do not understand how encryption works.
Again physical access, not remote access. Much smaller attack vector than a password.
You think passwords take power from the company that stores your passwords remotely? You have no idea how they are storing that password. You don't have to trust the company, you just have to trust the open standard these companies are implementing and that public/private key encryption is the standard used to secure the entire Internet.
Virtually no one uses a password manager. It's too much hassle.