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Passkeys are not a trap. Use them! (hachyderm.io)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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A rebuttal to an anti-passkey, pro-TOTP post that has made the rounds on Lemmy as well.

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[–] 13 points 6 days ago* (7 children)

I'm telling you why passkeys are garbage:

Case 1

  • Login to website
  • Maybe use 2FA device
  • Website creates session cookie

Never have to login again for the next few months

Case 2

  • Go to website
  • Use password manager to auto fill credentials

Click like 2 buttons and you're done

Case 3

  • Create passkey
  • Passkey is stored on propietary, trust me bro, "we will never share this with the NSA or FBI" Apple or something account where you can't export them
  • User becomes dependent on cloud provider
  • User will easier forget their real login data because they don't use them
  • User is fucked if account get's locked/deleted
  • User can still be hacked by simply compromising machine
  • No 2FA
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  • [–] 10 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    Passkey is stored on propietary, trust me bro, “we will never share this with the NSA or FBI” Apple or something account where you can’t export them

    No. Most FOSS password managers support them, even keepass and bitwarden. You control them, you can export them as you wish, and even use them across multiple devices. I know because I do this.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Do you really believe your average Apple, Google/Android or Microsoft/Windows user use these?

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  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago*

    No, but the "normal, worst case" usage of passwords is still far worse than even that case. Most people just re-use the same password for everything. This is why almost all companies use phone numbers and text messages as a totp now.

    If we're comparing worst usage of passwords vs worst usage of passkeys, passkeys still wins.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

    passkeys can perfectly be used with third party password managers. everything you say here can apply to passwords if you use the Os provided manager.

    you can absolutely have 2fa with passkeys. most platforms don’t do it since it adds little value

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago* (2 children)

    Os provided password manager

    That's the neat point. You don't have to use one when you enter your normal login credentials and the average user like does not use one.

    But with passkeys you are forced to use one and the average user will use the default one of their vendor.

    most platforms don’t do it since it adds little value

    Yeah because they obviously don't care about security (like machine compromise - that's why there is 2FA in the first place), which contradicts all advantages of passkeys.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago* (1 child)

    every single argument I've seen against passkeys could be said against TOTP and 2FA in general.

    • SMS token: they need to know your phone number. it's a privacy issue. also actual lock in to one device.
    • MS authenticator with push notifications: actual lock in to a single app
    • TOTP: you need a manager to store it, way more phishable than passkeys

    and yes, you could use third part TOTP managers, but as you said, the average user wont. I dont feel any argument against passkeys is particularly strong.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

    Who has used as argument that passkeys are phishable?

    The argument is that passkeys include "attestation" as part of the official standard, which is a method explicitly intended for services to be able to securely identify what local authenticator you used with the explicit purpose of allowing the service to reject access if it's not considered "safe". Can you say that about TOTP?

    The problem is not the general idea of passkeys.. there are actually good things in the standard. The criticism was that there's also a part in the standard that seems perfectly designed for companies to use them in anti-consumer practices.

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