Social media platform X has announced the launch of the innovative Passkeys security feature for iOS users based in the United States.
The company announced the new alternative login and enhanced security option on its platform Tuesday.
“Today we’re excited to launch Passkeys as a login option for our US-based users on iOS!,” its post said.
“A passkey is a new, easy to use, and secure way to log in to your account – all from your device.”
According to X, passkeys are more secure than traditional passwords because a new password is generated by a user’s device for each individual account on that device.
This makes the account less susceptible to phishing attacks and unauthorized access, X said.
Passkey was designed to streamline sign-ins across multiple devices.
Once enrolled, the passkey can be used to log in to an account across different devices “without having to remember or reset a forgotten password.”
How does it work?
Using asymmetric cryptology, once registered, the user’s device will generate two separate and unique encryption keys for each account on the user’s device – a public and private key.
The public key is shared and stored on X, while the private key remains on your device, X said.
When logging onto an account, the device will use the stored public key to authenticate a users identity, without the private key needing to be exposed or shared, reducing security risks.
Passkeys are constructed using public key cryptography from the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Authentication (WebAuthn) specification, part of the FIDO Alliance’s FIDO2 authentication standards.
X also states that you can unenroll your account from passkey authentication at any time.
For more information on how to enroll and activate the passkey feature, users can go to the X help center, and search for “How to use passkey.”
Unfortunately, Android users will have to wait, as the feature is currently only available to use when logging in on iOS.
