Why passkeys are a step back for personal security: examining account lockout risks, platform lock-in, hardware key limits, and fragile recovery flows.
The trap: Putting any 3rd party between you and your access.
It’s a 3 card monte game, but with security.
Roleplay:
Mr. Jonsith did you know your house is vulnerable? Your simple little key can be used by anyone to get in to your house. Security!? Our Keypass system will super secure your house. You give us your key, and when you want access, you come to one of our 5 in town locations, request access from us by showing us this new key here, and we will let you into your house.
next year: “In order to lower our costs and keep your monthly rate low, the five locations near you are being consolidated into a single location in Farawayville.”
another year later: “In order to lower our costs and keep your monthly rate low, our physical locations are being migrated to an online presence accessible through the HahaTrickedYou app, now available in your app store.”
seven months after that: the app doesn’t work. web site disappears. company goes under.
The trap: Putting any 3rd party between you and your access.
It’s a 3 card monte game, but with security.
Roleplay: Mr. Jonsith did you know your house is vulnerable? Your simple little key can be used by anyone to get in to your house. Security!? Our Keypass system will super secure your house. You give us your key, and when you want access, you come to one of our 5 in town locations, request access from us by showing us this new key here, and we will let you into your house.
next year: “In order to lower our costs and keep your monthly rate low, the five locations near you are being consolidated into a single location in Farawayville.”
another year later: “In order to lower our costs and keep your monthly rate low, our physical locations are being migrated to an online presence accessible through the HahaTrickedYou app, now available in your app store.”
seven months after that: the app doesn’t work. web site disappears. company goes under.