One of the biggest concerns surrounding our digital lives is our security. We all have usernames, email address logins, and of course, passwords. These are the barricades we set up to protect our data online.
But we all know that they are incredibly vulnerable. Our login credentials can be hacked, and our data and security will be compromised.
Luckily, there is a better alternative for protecting data: WebAuthn.
WebAuthn is a new standard of digital security. In this short guide, we will explain to you what it is and why you should transition to this new standard.
WebAuthn Is Setting a New Standard
Already adopted by Windows 10, Android, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, WebAuthn can secure data in a manner that would make passwords obsolete. Passwords may provide us with security — but with tremendous strain.
W3C released the full details of the WebAuthn API. Here is an overview of this new standard.
1. Built-in System
WebAuthn has a built-in system where a user can sign up and choose what devices to authenticate. These devices range from computers to mobile devices to hardware security keys.
The device can be used to authenticate your access to it. WebAuthn will be built-in to an app and is already built into a few web browsers and user interfaces.
2. Ease of Use
A significant advantage of WebAuthn is that it will be easy to use. With WebAuthn, the user can access multiple applications with a single authentication. This means that WebAuthn has a more sophisticated security system and puts less stress on the user in having to remember security credentials.
With the elimination or reduction of the importance of passwords, a user will only have to register with WebAuthn and confirm which devices and applications that they are entitled to access. They will not have to stress about having to change or reset login credentials.
It can also support the user taking only a single step to verify multiple authentication factors.
3. Superior Security Features
And of course, the new WebAuthn has superior security features. For the most part, a hacker would need access to the user’s physical device to break into it. WebAuthn can circumvent phishing techniques, as devices will only authenticate using the domain by which it is registered.
The private keys stored for authentication identification are stored on the user’s device. This is a massive contrast to the current situation where service providers keep a secure database of user’s login credentials. As secure as these databases may be, they are always vulnerable and can still be hacked.
So if the service provider is hacked, a hacker will only have public information about the user but will not have access to the private keys needed to access the user’s data stored on their devices and web applications.
The Next Steps
Now that you know about the brilliance of the new WebAuthn, the next step is to understand it in further detail. Be ready to transition to WebAuthn and embrace this significant change!
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