Identity & access

Passkeys

Phishing-resistant FIDO credentials: per-site key pairs stored on a device or synced by a platform, unlocked with biometrics or a PIN.

A passkey is a discoverable WebAuthn credential. The authenticator creates a key pair scoped to the relying party ID (the site's domain); the server stores only the public key and verifies a signature over a fresh challenge at login. Synced passkeys are backed up by iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager or third-party managers; device-bound ones live on a security key.

They resist phishing because the browser only offers a credential for the matching domain, so a lookalike site gets nothing to replay. There is no shared secret on the server to leak, which removes credential stuffing too.

Practical issues: account recovery becomes the weak link, synced passkeys move trust to the platform account, and attestation is usually unavailable for synced credentials. Keep a fallback that is not weaker than what you replaced.

Learn it properly

Also used in

Related terms