this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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[–] ikidd 18 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Just. Use. A. Fucking. Password. Manager.

It isn't hard. People act like getting users to remember one password isn't how it's done already anyway. At least TFAing a password manager is way fucking easier than hoping every service they log into with "password123" has it's own TFA. And since nearly every site uses shit TFA like a text or email message, it's even better since they can use a Yubikey very easily instead.

Passkeys are a solution looking for a problem that hasn't been solved already, and doing it badly.

[–] EncryptKeeper 11 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, use a password manager to store your passkeys.

Passkeys are a solution looking for a problem that hasn't been solved already, and doing it badly.

You say that and then

hoping every service they log into with "password123" has it's own TFA. And since nearly every site uses shit TFA like a text or email message

That’s literally a problem passkeys solve and password managers don’t lol

[–] ikidd 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I make the assumption people are using the password managers like they should, which is generating unique, complex passwords, which is kinda the point. Once you hit a certain number of characters on a random password, you might as well not try. And passkeys don't solve any sort of MFA problem, same as passwords.

And tell me something, do you realize how cunty you come off when you end a comment with "lol"?

[–] EncryptKeeper 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

And passkeys don't solve any sort of MFA problem

They do in fact solve this problem. Passkeys are something you have, and are secured by something you know, or something you are.

They also solve an age-old problem with passwords, which is that regardless of how complex your password is, it can be compromised in a breach. Because you have no say in how a company stores your password. And if that company doesn’t offer 2FA or only offers sms or email verification, then you’re even more at risk. This problem doesn’t exist with passkeys.

Edit: lol

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

it can be compromised in a breach

Sure, and then that one password is compromised. Password managers make it trivial to use unique passwords for every service, so if a service is breached, you're basically as screwed with passwords as passkeys.

The switching cost here is high, and the security benefits are marginal in practice IMO. I'm not against passkeys, but it should be something password managers handle, and I don't have a strong preference between TOTP baked into your PW manager and passkeys.

[–] EncryptKeeper 1 points 54 minutes ago* (last edited 53 minutes ago)

Sure, and then that one password is compromised.

Which means that entire service you used that password to login to is compromised. If you were using passkeys however, you would have nothing compromised.

so if a service is breached, you're basically as screwed with passwords as passkeys.

No… with a passkey you would be not screwed at all. You’d be entirely unaffected.

the security benefits are marginal in practice

I mean in your own example that’s a reduction of 100%. That’s kind of a huge difference.

[–] johannesvanderwhales 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

You're looking at this from the perspective of an educated end user. You're pretty secure already from some common attack vectors. You're also in the minority. Passkeys are largely about the health of the entire ecosystem. Not only do they protect against credentials being stolen, they also protect against phishing attacks because identity verification is built in. That is of huge value if you're administering a site. Yes if everyone used a password manager there would be less value, but only about a third of users do that. And as an admin you can't just say "well that guy got phished but it's his own fault for not using a password manager."

[–] ikidd 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Password managers have only really taken off in the last half-decade, so one-third is kind of to be expected. I know they've been around a long time, but major adoption has been recent.

Passkeys will take a while to get wide adoption as well, especially with syncing problems that we've seen.

[–] johannesvanderwhales 3 points 5 hours ago

Password managers are never going to hit anywhere near 100% adoption rate. It requires knowledge on the part of the user and in many cases money. No grandma isn't going to roll her own with keepass. Most likely she'll never even know what a password manager is. And as long as those users are still out there, admins still have to deal with all the problems they bring.

Incidentally I looked and it's been over a decade since I started using my first password manager. They're not that new.

[–] Evotech 1 points 5 hours ago

Password managers are too hard for the boomers